


Three Words

by xSilentSecretsx



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Minor Violence, Natsu is Jealous, Natsu just wants his bestfriend back, Plue is adorable, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 06:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3477407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSilentSecretsx/pseuds/xSilentSecretsx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Weak. Powerless. Pathetic. These words have been going through Lucy's mind constantly. It's almost as if it was unnatural. Not only does she have to worry about that, but also the news about being Rogue's mate. Lucy's life is forced into one of romance, mystery, and angst. Will she ever find out who's torturing her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Weak. Powerless. Pathetic.

These three words surrounded my mind all night; refusing to let me get a wink of sleep. I toss and turn, trying to get comfortable, but it was useless in the end. I eventually give up on sleep all together and head towards the kitchen to fix some milk. The three words ponder into my head once again and I clutch my hands into fist, which causes the glass in my hand to fall and break.

A quick flash of light enters my room and I turn to see Loke. His face is sketched with concern and worry. "Princess are you all right? We're all worried about you." He voices and I automatically know what he means by we. He's talking about all my spirits.

"I'm fine." I put on a fake smile. He gives me a look, which tells me that he knows I'm lying. He shakes his head slightly and begins to pick up the glass shards on the ground. "Please don't I can do it." I swat his hand away and give him another 'smile'. He nods before disappearing back into the spirit world.

Useless

I feel as my eye twitches at the word. I hate these thoughts! They keep coming at me as if to convince me that they're true. My anger rises as that particular word repeats itself. "Stop." I whisper, while trying to pick up the glass.

Worthless

My breathing is now uneven and my arms shake as I'm cleaning. A bit more than half of the glass in my hand falls back onto the floor. Frustration seeps up my spine and I throw the shards onto the wall. I then rest my back on the cabinet behind me.

Burden

Tears descend onto the ground and my head is pounding. "Stop. Stop. Stop. STOP!" I yell. "It's not true! I'm not weak! I'm not worthless or pathetic!" I scream shakily. My voice sounds unsure of myself. Why do I doubt this? I've been plenty of helpful to Team Natsu. Right? I feel tired from these tears and decide to give in to sleep.

"Lucy?" My eyes blink open, but shut close because of the brightness. I slowly open them again and see a figure in front of me.

"Cana?" I groggily ask.

"What are you doing on the ground?" She questions. My vision clears up and I sit up.

"What are you doing here?" I ignore her question and ask my own.

"Lucy we haven't seen you in three days." Concern is obviously in her voice. "Did someone attack you?"

My thoughts turn back into my last memory and my mood darkens immediately. "No, I guess I was just tired." I stand up and take a big stretch. My muscles are sore from the un comfortable position I was in on the floor. "Why didn't Natsu, Gray, or Erza come and look for me?"

Cana walks over to the small table I have and takes a seat. "Erza is on some S class mission. Gray is out with Lyon doing something and Natsu is training with Gajeel somewhere." She shrugs while taking a flask from her bra.

I decide not to say anything about it. "Hey I'm going to go take a bath." I announce and she gives me thumbs up. Once I go into my bathroom I turn the water on and strip. I pour vanilla scented bubbles in the tub and wait for it to fill up. Once it's filled I dip in and slip under the water for about thirty seconds. I then relax for ten minutes before washing up with Strawberry body wash. When I step out I wrap a towel around my body and open the door.

"Hey Lucy we have the same panties! See!" Cana yells, obviously drunk. I look over and see that she's butt naked holding two identical stringy panties in her hand. My face goes red immediately and I look away. Before I can say anything, I feel two hands grope my breast through my towel.

"C-Cana! Stop!" I beg flustered.

"Aww Lucy! That was so hot, hearing you beg like that." Cana winks and I turn redder and snatch my underwear from the top of her head. (At least I hope this one's mine.) I walk towards my underwear drawer and put the lacey thong back before grabbing a pink bra and matching panties.

I turn around and see Cana drinking beer. Where the hell did she even get that? I sigh and shake my head at her drunken antics. I quickly get dressed, not caring that Cana is probably watching. Once I get into my usual attire Cana (Who suddenly was dressed) drags me out of my apartment and all the way into the guild.

"Lu-chan!" Levy shrieks.

"Hey Levy-chan." I giggle at her and see that Cana is at her place by the bar.

"I was so worried!" The blue haired girl wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly. I return the hug and apologize for making her worry. "You can make it up by having a sleep over with me!" Levy cheers.

"A sleepover sounds fun." Mira says, "I'm glad you're ok Lucy. You really worried us all."

"Sorry Mira I guess I was just really tired." I confess, while trying not to think about the episode I had in my kitchen.

"I heard sleepover." Cana grins and makes her way to us. I felt a sweat drop. I don't recall Levy inviting them along.

"Can I go?" Lissanna smiles sweetly as she slithers into a table we occupy.

"Of course! Juvia would you like to join?" Levy offers the love struck bluenette.

"Juvia would love to go." She smiles at us shyly.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Mira squeals.

"Ok we're all meeting at Lucy's at eight o clock sharp." Levy cheers.

"Wait why my place?" I whine.

"It's closer?" Lissanna offers. Before I could respond, the doors slam wide open and reveal two familiar figures.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which two visitors arrive.

"Sting, Rogue how can we help you?" Mira walks up to the dragon slayers and offers them a smile. Everyone stops what they're doing and stares at them in confusion.

"Aww man Natsu's not here!" Sting sniffs the air and frowns.

"Sorry, but Natsu left with Gajeel a couple of days ago." Mirajane explains. I notice Rogue's posture slightly slump. I guess he really wanted to fight Gajeel or something.

"Then we'll just wait for them here." The blonde declares and looks around. He notices our table and grins before dragging Rogue towards us.

"He's so fucking hot." Cana slurs a bit. I roll my eyes at her. When she's drunk suddenly every guy is 'hot'.

"You're talking about me right?" Sting gives her a seductive look, which makes me look away. Okay I admit it, he's hot-no he's sexy.

"Ew. Take this somewhere else please." I scrunch up my face and notice Levy giggling at them, while Lissanna blushes. The doors to the guild open once again and reveal Gray. Of course Juvia leaves us and pounces him immediately. Lissanna chuckles before getting up.

"See you tonight Levy, Lucy." She waves and leaves the hall.

The dragon duo sits across from us at our table and Sting continues to flirt with Cana. Rogue looks bored and lays his head on his arms. "So Lucy where were you for the past three days?" Levy asks, trying to ignore the conversation with the drunk and light dragon slayer.

"I told you: I was tired." I shrug.

She raises a brow, "You expect me to believe that you slept for three days."

"Oh trust me I think she did. When I got there she was passed out on the kitchen floor." Cana interrupts, which causes Sting to pay attention to it.

"Did you get drunk or something?" Levy questions and her eyes light up, "Did you have a party? Did you lose your V card?!"

I furrow my brows, "I don't drink Levy-chan and if I had a party you'd be the first I'd invite. Lastly please reframe from asking that question again." I lecture her.

"Have you ever seen Lucy's underwear drawer? You'd never guess that she's still a virgin." Cana smirks and I blush.

"Cana!" I yell and cover her mouth, but she licks it and I remove it and wipe the spit on her pants. I notice Sting smirking at me in amusement and I feel my face getting redder.

"Lu-chan! That's the first thing you have to show me when I sleep over." The quirky blue haired girl orders.

"Why?" I give her a strange look.

"Who wouldn't want to see what the marvelous Lucy has in her lingerie drawer?" Sting winks.

"It's not lingerie!" I yell and the whole guild turns and looks at us and I bang my head onto the table.

"Lucy you bought more lingerie?" Gray walks over and sits next to Rogue.

"I never had any to begin with." I mutter.

"Then that means we have to go buy you some!" Levy pipes up. This whole time I thought she was innocent.

"I need more beer." Cana stands up and goes to the bar.

"Hey why are you two even here?" Gray looks at the dragon slayers with curiosity.

"We're gonna win a fight with Gajeel and Natsu." Sting says cockily.

"What makes you so sure of that? I'm pretty sure you got your asses kicked with just Natsu fighting you at the game." Gray responds cheekily.

"We've been training." Rogue surprisingly says, yet his head still lies on his arms.

"Where the fuck are your clothes!" Sting yells and Gray looks down to see that he is indeed naked, of course he starts searching for them like crazy. I guess I got use to him stripping randomly and didn't notice.

I give Levy a small smile and a wav bye before I depart from the guild. Instead of going home, I walk towards a clearing I found not too long ago. I arrive in twenty minutes and take a look around.

In the center, there's a tree stump, which I use as a chair. The trees around it are a beautiful orange color with red tips. A little bit beyond this there's a stream that runs east. I walk over to the stump and sit with my legs crossed. My eyelids flutter closed and I take a deep breathe.

Weak

The same voice from three days ago rings through my head. Memories of the countless of times Natsu saved me from some life threatening situations floats among my mind.

Pathetic

I feel my fist ball up and my nails enter my palms. "No. Stop." I say as calm as I can, but my mind fills with how many times I have cried since I joined Fairy Tail.

Powerless

I feel myself choke on the air in my lungs. It takes a minute to calm my breathing down. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I chant to myself repeatedly. Tears fall from my eyes yet again. What's wrong with me? Why am I suddenly feeling this way? What am I without my spirits to aid me? I'm just a normal person. No. I need to stop the thoughts! I'm still pretty strong without them right?

I blink my eyes open and see that the sun was setting. I take that as my cue to start walking home. I summon Plue to accompany me.

"Hi Plue." I let out a small smile at the dog spirit thing.

"Pun pun." He greets. We start walking back and after ten minute of silence I speak.

"Oh Kami! Plue what am I going to do? I keep having these bad thoughts, but I'm afraid that these thoughts might be true." I admit.

"Pun." I can hear sadness in his voice. I let out an annoyed groan.

"These thoughts came out of nowhere!" I run my right hand through my hair. "I never felt like this before they came. What's going on?"

"Pun Pun!" Plue motions for me to stop and I comply. He then waddles in front of me and starts to dance.

"You're just too cute!" I pick him up and snuggle him in my chest. I look up and see that I'm at my house. Plue goes back to the spirit world and I open the front door. I soon regret accepting the sleep over.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep over gone bad or good?

“Lucy you’re late!” Mirajane glares at me. I shudder and slowly walk backwards out the door before closing it.

  
“Lucy get your ass back in here!” Levy screeches and my eyes widen in fear. The door swings open and Cana drags me back in. When she lets me go I sit on the floor with everyone. My table was pushed onto the side of the room.

  
“So what do you usually do at sleepovers?” I ask quite shyly.

  
“Juvia wants to know too.” The Gray obsessed girl chimes in. The whole room gets quiet and every except Juvia and I have mischievous grins. Juvia and I gulp, obviously scared.

  
“Let’s play truth or dare.” Lissanna and Mirajane grin. I feel my face begin to pale and I crawl backwards, in hopes of escaping. Of course Levy and Cana drag me back, while Mira walks into my kitchen. She emerges out with an empty beer bottle and a fully bottle of whiskey. She sets them in the middle of the floor and tells Levy to go get the shot glasses.The bookworm obliges and goes into my kitchen and returns with seven miniature glasses. Mirajane takes them and expertly pours whiskey into each shot glass.

“Juvia is confused.” I see her tilt her head a bit to the side.

  
“I’ll explain, it’s regular truth or dare, but if you refuse to answer or do the dare then you have to take a shot.” Mira beams with excitement. “Who wants to go first?”

  
“I will.” Cana states before grabbing the empty beer bottle and spinning it. Everyone stares at it in anticipation before it finally lands on Levy.

  
“Truth or Dare?” Cana asks.

  
“Truth!” Levy squeaks out. Cana thinks for a minute before grinning wildly.

  
“Tell us about your secret fantasy.” Levy eyes widen at the Truth and she takes a shot. The room fills with ‘awe’ and ‘tell us’. Levy shakes her head no before refilling her glass. She then grabs the empty bottle and spins it.

  
“Lucy Truth or Dare?” She grins.

  
“Truth.”

  
“Aww I had a really awesome dare for you.” The bluenette pouts and I roll my eyes. “What is one thing you hate about your best friend?”

  
I raise an eyebrow at that since Levy knows that she’s my Best friend. “I hate when she tries to set me up with guys.” I answer and she sticks her tongue out at me.

  
“So you rather be set up with a girl?” Mira smirks and I feel my face heat up as I shake my head no. I quickly grab the empty bottle and spin it and it lands at Cana.

  
“Dare. Hit me with your best shot.” Cana smiles cockily.

  
“Exchange ALL your clothes with someone here; down to the last item.” I beam.

  
“Lissanna~” Cana sings while dragging the white haired mage into my bathroom. We can hear her protest of embarrassment and we all giggle. When they emerge from the bathroom my eyes go wide. Seeing Cana in a shirt is new, especially since I don’t recall ever seeing her with one on. Then my eyes turn to Lissanna who is redder than Erza’s hair. I notice that Cana’s bra is a bit too big for the young Strauss.

  
“Can we change back please? My boobs hurt from her small ass bra.” Cana complains.

  
“You’re barely bigger than her!” Levy yells.

  
“Juvia agrees with Levy.”

  
“Please go change,” I say, “It’s weird seeing you two dressed this way.” Mira nods in agreement.

  
When they finish changing they sit back down in their respective spots, Cana next to Levy and I and Lissanna next to Mira and Juvia. Cana twist the bottle roughly and it lands on Juvia.

  
“Truth or Dare?”

  
“Truth.”

  
“You’re all a bunch of kittens!” Cana yells, “Alright then If Gray was here right now what would you want him to do to you?”

  
“Juvia doesn’t think that’s appropriate to talk about especially because love rival is here.” She directs the last part to me and takes a shot.

  
An hour passes and everyone except Mira and Cana are drunk. They’ve answered every question and done every dare. The more I drank, the more comfortable I was while playing the game. I’ve answered questions like ‘Describe the sexiest dream you've ever had’, ‘What is your wildest sexual fantasy’. I’ve also done a few dares that I’d never do if I was thinking straight. I had to remove Mira’s shirt with only my teeth and I think I made out with Levy for a few minutes.

  
“I’m bored let’s do something else.” Cana whines.

  
“Luuuuu-chaaan!” Levy calls out to me.

  
“Luuuucy~” Lissanna calls as well.

  
“What?” I ask annoyed.

  
“Entertain us.” They say together.

  
“Hey Lucy who do you like?” Mira chirps.

  
“Who do you like?” I slur.

  
I see the match maker’s face frown and Juvia crawls over to her. “Turn that frown upside down.” She says while moving Mira’s lips into an up position with her fingers. Mira giggles at the cuteness of the situation.

  
“Let’s watch a movie! Please please please! Lucy pleaaaase!” Lissanna begs.

  
“Ok ok fine.” I puff my cheeks out and poke her nose. I look around and notice Levy sound asleep on the floor and I go pick her up.

  
“Lucy don’t rape her!” Cana scolds.

  
“Don’t worry I won’t.” I reassure her and place the sleeping bookworm on my bed.

  
“It sure looks like you are.” Cana simpers.

  
“But I’m not.” I pout tears in my eyes. Cana rolls her eyes and Mirajane giggles while pulling up a movie lacrima. We decide to watch a scary movie, which ended up making me cry in fear. Throughout the movie Juvia and I would cling on to each other for comfort. Yup we’re definitely drunk.

  
Mirajane and Lissanna passed out a while ago. Well Lissanna passed out while Mirajane fell asleep. Juvia is laying on my lap, so that means the only ones awake is Cana and I. She looks a bit grumpy, but it might be because she didn’t have a drop of alcohol. A wave of tiredness towers over me and for some reason I try to fight it, but lose.


	4. Team Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue and Lucy Save a bank

A week has passed since the arrival of the Dragon duo as well as the sleep over. Natsu and Gajeel haven’t returned yet and I need money for my apartment. Rogue and Sting gave up on waiting for them about two days ago and I’m starting to feel the same way. I sigh and stand from my seat at the guilds bar and walk over to the mission board. 

Beauty Pageant for 10,000 jewels. Haha no.

Subdue twin monsters for 140,000 jewels. I know I can’t do this by myself.

You’re too weak.

I grunt in frustration at the voice’s arrival. Just ignore it Lucy. 

Guard Bank for 130,000 Jewel. This captures my interest and I pick up paper off of the board. All I have to do is guard a bank for a few hours until the guards come back. Apparently their off watching over a vehicle because their imputing more money. It also states that they request that only one mage be sent and they would be meeting up with two other mages from different guilds. I wonder why the pay is so high. I shrug the thought off and give the paper to Mira. 

“Lucy I’m glad to see you going by yourself,” She smiles, “You’ll actually get to keep the pay this time.” She giggles. Somehow team Natsu has gotten even more destructive lately and I sometimes go home with just 5,000 jewel. Definitely not enough for rent. “Be careful Lucy.” The white haired mage waves me off and I leave the guild.  
Hours has passed until I finally arrive at my destination. I quickly talk to the bank owner. Luckily the two other mages are already here. “Lucy?” A light female voice asks. I turn around to be greeted by a girl with bright green eyes and light purple hair that flows down her back.

“Kuro!” I gasp in shock. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“It’s been extra-long for me since you had that time skip.” She points out. I let out a little laugh. “I’m apart of Phoenix Grave now. I gave up on hunting for treasure a couple years ago.” She explains to me. We talk for a while since we don’t have to start for about an hour.

“Where’s the other mage?” I suddenly remember that there’s supposed to be three of us. 

“Oh he’s over there.” Kuro points to a familiar figure on the other side of the room.

“Rogue?” I question out loud. I expected someone from Blue Pegasus or Lamina Scale to come. I let out a small sigh. 

“Yeah the Sabertooth guy.” She giggles.

“People have names for a reason.” I mutter under my breathe, but I know Kuro heard me. 

“I honestly don’t give two shits about him.” She states before letting out a huff. I gape like a fish for a couple of seconds before frowning.

“Ku-“

“Lucy we should start patrolling now.” The green eyed girl cuts me off and drags me out of the room. I shake my head at her antics. It’s so strange how people could change over time. Kuro use to be a sweet, polite, and nice girl, but now she’s just being mean. I remember when I first met her after my mom’s death. She found me crying in a forest and comforted me even though I was a stranger. She made me feel better and accept that my mother was gone. 

After that day we’ve always met up every day at sunset. I found out she was an orphan whose village was attacked. That’s why she was in the forest when I met her. I always brought her food to eat and games to play and occasionally snuck her in so she could bathe properly. It took years to figure out that she was a mage, but she never told me what she could do. Instead she talked about her dream to explore the world. When I turned 16 I started to include her in on my plan to run away from home and asked her to join me. She of course agreed to go with me, but said that she was going to go on her own path to accomplish her dream of exploring and hunt for treasures. 

“Lucy.” A male voice shakes me from my thoughts and I see Rogue in front of me. “You were spacing out.” He says before walking away. I blink a few times before searching around me. I’m in the main hall that you have to go through in order to get to the bankers. So far nothing suspicious has occurred and I hope it stays that way. 

“Lucy trade places with me.” Kuro says and I nod in confusion before leaving the hallway. I walk past the banking tables to a hallway towards the back, not far from where Rogue is. He gives me a curious look.

“I switched with Kuro.” I explain.

“I don’t trust her.” He states. “Something seems off about her.”

I furrow my brows, before I could respond, screams fill the air. We run to the main area and see people clad in black everywhere. Some are even holding civilians with weapons pressed against them. Anger seethes in me as I witness innocents being threatened. I reach for my keys but a voice stops me from grabbing them.   
“I wouldn’t do that If I were you unless you want this little girl to die.” Kuro holds a dagger to a six year olds neck. Cries from her parents echo through the room and I glare venomously at my former friend. “I got lucky with this, who would have expected Little Lucy to go on a mission by herself? Now I can kill you in front of a live audience.” She cackles. 

Rogue steps forward to stand next to me. “Aww is Roguey gonna rescue you? Aren’t you tired of being the pathetic damsel in distress? Can you do anything for yourself? I mean you have your spirits to fight for you.” She taunts me. I’m sick and tired of being told that I’m weak. 

Kuro stands up and brushed her fingers against a plant on the wall. It begins to whither slowly until there’s nothing left of it. “Why are you doing this?” I demand.   
“I have to get my treasure from somewhere.” She answers simply. 

“Isn’t the point to hunt for your treasure?” Rogue says coolly.

“Oh I did it just turns out that it belongs to somebody else.” She shrugs before slowly walking over to us. We take a few steps back. “Hey let’s play a game. Hide and seek remember that Lucy? I’d always find you remember? You have three minutes to hide and don’t even try to escape the buildings surrounded.”

I hurry and grab Rogues hand and drag him into the male restroom. “I have a plan.” I hurriedly whisper to him what to do and he nods in approval. 

“Ready or not here I come!” Kuro’s voice rings. I summon Gemini and they transform into me. 

“Here I am!” Gemini Lucy yells from outside the restroom. 

“I remember you being bad at this, but not this bad.” I hear Kuro laugh. Their conversation goes farther away from the room and I notice that Rogue already left. All he has to do is become a shadow and take her by surprised while she’s distracted then he would disarm her comrades before taking them out.

You’re so weak Lucy hiding behind these closed doors.

Shut up! No I’m not. Ugh! Now is not the time to have an internal battle.

The door opens and I see Rogue standing there with an actual smile. “They’re all tied up we just have to wait for the Rune Knights to take them into custody.” I nod and we exit the restroom and sit in the main area where all the people involved are tied up. I lightly chuckle to myself. She could have killed us if she didn’t play stupid games. 

I turn my head and see Rogue looking at me. “You’re smart.” He seems surprised. I furrow my brows. Is he saying that I look like I’m dumb? “I already knew you were, but I that plan was genius.” I blush at the complement. 

“Thanks.” I mumble awkwardly and we sit in silence. 

He’s just saying that to make you feel better about doing nothing. 

“That’s not true.” I growl lowly before covering my mouth at my outburst. Now Rogue is going to think I’m some crazy lunatic who talks to herself for company.

“Are you ok?” He asks me and heat creeps up my face. 

“Y-yeah.” I stutter. Before he could say anything more, the Rune Knights finally arrive along with the bank owner, who I never noticed was gone. 

“Thank you so much for your assistance. I knew there was going to be an attack and I’m glad I didn’t tell you. Who would have knew that the one leading it was supposed to help you.” He shakes his head at the irony and pays us. We depart from the bank and Rogue and I say our goodbye’s before heading different ways.


	5. Sting

I enter the train and find an empty compartment. That has to be the most I've heard Rogue talk. I smile myself because of that achievement. He seems really nice; it'll be awesome to get to know him better. I sit next the window and let myself doze off.

"You're so fucking weak!"

"Whore!"

"Defenseless!"

I watch in terror as all of the Fairy Tail members scream insults at me. I cover my ears and close my eyes tightly.

"Juvia thinks love rival is weak."

"Natsu!" Erza yells which causes me to look at her. "How could you invite such a weak person to the guild!?"

"I'm sorry!" He yells in fear before turning towards me, "Lucy I'm kicking you out of the team." He smiles and I gasp in shock.

"No." I glare and stand up.

"I'm sorry Lucy but-"

"NO! This isn't real! Natsu is all about Nakama! He would never be so cruel!" I walk towards him until we're only inches apart. Before I can say anything more, all air leaves my lungs and I struggle to breathe. Tears descend my eyes and I fall onto the floor. The room starts to swirl and I black out.

I gasp awake and feel my face. Tears sprinkle themselves down, but I quickly wipe them away. I look out the window and notice that I'm almost back in Magnolia. A smile plasters itself on my face as I think of going back home, but it quickly disappears when I think of the dream once again. I shake it from my thoughts immediately.

I trudge off the train and make my way to the guild to report in. Luckily I didn't have to stay in an inn or motel this time. I hate sleeping in foreign beds. I finally reach the guild after 15 minutes and open the doors.

"Lucy!" Before I could see who said my name, I find myself on the floor with a body hovering over me. "Why'd you go on a mission without us? I thought we were team." The Salamander pouts.

"Natsu you were gone and my rent is due soon." I explain and he sits up. We're now just both sitting on the floor.

"What mission did you go on anyway?" He asks and I take a neatly folded paper from my back pocket and hand it to him. He reads over it and scrunches up his face in confusion. "Why'd it pay so much?"

"Apparently there was supposed to be a robbery or attack, but we had to find that out by ourselves." I explain to him how the two other mages were Rogue and my old friend. Explain how she betrays us and tries to kill us, but her stupidity stops her.

"If she's a part of a guild then why was she still claiming to be a pirate?" Levy asks and I notice that I have the whole guilds attention.

"I believe that she was using the guild so she could rob people. It made it more convenient and easy." I say and she nods at my answer. Before I could say anything, Natsu captures me in a bone crushing hug.

"We're a team Lucy, don't go on missions without me ok?" He looks at me straight in the eyes.

"Ok." I agree and push him off me. He pouts and I stand up and go to Mira. She gives me a weird look before smiling.

"So your mission went well." She giggles and I furrow my brows.

"Yeah." I respond slowly.

"So Rogue-"

"No no no no no!" I shout, "No more match making." I demand her and she laughs.

"Aww, but Lucy!" She whines.

"No means no." I stick my tongue out at her and cross my arms. I notice Cana wave me over and I go sit by her.

"The cards are showing me a dragon." She smirks at me.

"Ok? What do I have to do with that?"

"It's your love life!" Cana gushes, "Meaning you have a dragon slayer in your life!" Cana then looks over to Natsu before giving me a knowing look. I blush slightly, remembering the time Mira accused Natsu of liking me.

"No way am I going through that again!" I yell, while rushing out of the guild.

Why is everyone so crazy about love! Of course I want it someday, but I honestly can't see myself with Natsu or Rogue. Natsu's too dense and Rogue is too mysterious. But, it would be interesting to learn more about him, but for curiosity of course. Before I know it, I'm in front of my apartment. A smile graces my face, as I unlock the door.

I nearly scream when I see a person rummaging through my kitchen. "What the hell!" I shriek, "Lucy Kick!"

The guy grunts and quickly looks at me angrily. "Watch it blonde!" Sting growls.

"I'm pretty sure this is my house and I can do anything I want in it." I cross my arms and glare at him. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you went home."

Sting grabs sandwich supplies and closes the fridge. He begins making himself a turkey sandwich. "Nah I decided to stay and wait for Salamander." He explains as he adds exactly 4 and a half pieces of turkey onto his sandwich.

"Ok, so why are you here?" I question.

"I had to stay somewhere." He shrugs and I punch the top of his head.

"OW! What the hell blondie!?" He yells.

"YOU CAN'T JUST STAY IN MY HOUSE WITHOUT MY CONSENT!" I shriek.

He yet again shrugs and starts to eat his sandwich. I feel my eyes twitch as he eats the sandwich with my groceries that I paid for with my money.

"Out." I growl.

"No." He smirks at me.

"Out. Now." I deepen my glare and he laughs, which pisses me off.

"Aww blondie thinks she's threatening." He Coos. I turn deep red when I realize that he's hovering over me. I can practically feel his breathe tease my skin.

"W-What are you doing!?" I shriek in shock.

"You're cute I'm surprised pinky didn't take you already."

"E-excuse me!? I'm not an object!" I huff and attempt to push him off me, but he doesn't budge. For a few minutes we just stare at each other, while a blush slowly creeps up his face.

"Well I'm gonna head out now, thanks for letting me stay." He gets off me and walks out the door. I stand still completely dumbstruck for about ten minutes.

"Weirdo." I huff and clean up the mess he made in the kitchen. "Good for nothing bastard couldn't even clean the mess he made." I mumble, while wiping the counter top. A small yawn escapes my lips and I notice that it's eight thirty. Wow already? I left for the guild at nine this morning and went to the train station around ten. It took an hour to get there and I stayed there for about five hours. Then the train ride back was an hour and I spent around thirty minutes at the guild.

I shrug and trudge into my room, where I kick off my boots and lie in bed. I'll take a shower in the morning. My thoughts suddenly turn towards Sting. Is he the dragon slayer Cana was talking about? No. He's too much of a perv. I shudder. But, maybe he has a sweet side to him?...Haha! Of course not. He's the 'Great' Sting Eucliffe of the Dragon Slayer Duo. One of the biggest players on the planet. Certain members of Blue Pegasus can't even rival him. Ew. I really don't want him in my future then. And with those thoughts, I finally fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"Lucy!" A voice calls out for me as my hand grasps onto a cliffs edge.

"Natsu!" I shriek out in fear. Tears collect into the corners of my eyes as I locked them tight. I hear Natsu calls get closer until he's directly above me.

"Lucy! Why the hell are you so weak?!" He growls like the dragon he is.

"No! This isn't real! This can't be real." I say the last part softly to myself.

Weak.

Useless.

Pitiful.

Wannabe.

Slut.

"You really thought that we cared about you?" Natsu laughs, while stepping on my hand. I cry out in agony and terror. He smashes his foot down harder, which makes it difficult to hold myself up. "Why don't you just die? That's all your good for anyway."

"N-Natsu? Why are being this way?" I yelp out. He disregards me and continues to squish my hand like it's an annoying bug. "STOP!" I screech, but he yet again ignores me and thrusts my hand with his foot. Fear rises through me as I feel myself fall. A wave of excitement and horror washes over me as I plummet towards the earth bellow. Why? Why couldn't I prevent this? Why am I so weak? Why couldn't I protect myself? Tears fall freely from my eyes as plunge to the death that awaits me.

I wait for the impact, but one never comes. Confusion flows through me as I ponder if I'm dead or alive. I slowly open my eyes and I'm greeted with red eyes. "R-Rogue?" I question in a stutter and his face morphs into one of …admiration?

"Are you ok?" He asks quickly and I nod shakily at him in response.

"Don't worry; we'll kick his ass for you." Sting, who I just noticed was there, grinned cockily. Tears gather in my eyes and I find myself clutching onto Rogue as if my life depended on it.

"W-why d-did he do that? D-didn't he k-know t-that I'd die i-if it wasn't for Rogue?" Tears swamped onto Rogues attire, but I didn't care. I feel Rogue pull me into him even more; comforting me with soothing words and swaying me slightly.

I plop up from bed and gasp for air. I feel my face and sure enough, it's wet. I take a few deep breaths before swishing my legs to the side of the bed and getting up. I notice that I'm shaking slightly. Everything felt so real. I doubt I could sleep after that and I don't even want to try. What if I have that dream again? I shudder at the thought and walk towards my front door. I open it and step outside; not concerned that I have no shoes or proper apparel on.

No one's outside, so I assume that it's really early. There's a light breeze in the air that makes me shiver a bit, but I don't stop walking. I keep moving my feet towards a random direction. I don't want to stop walking, but I know that I'd eventually have to.

"Hey Blondie!" A voice yells and I whip my head around to see Sting with his exceed Lector, who was sleeping on his shoulder. I finally stop moving and face him as he runs towards me. "What the hell are you doing out here at this time and where the fuck are your shoes?!" He gives me a stern look and I let out a small giggle. He's kinda cute when he acts concerned. I cut my laughter short as images of my drea-nightmare whirl through my head like a tornado. I barely can contain my tears, but eventually I give up n trying to be strong and break down. "Blon-Lucy what's wrong?" I faintly see his face scrunch up in confusion through my hazy eyes.

I feel his muscular arms wrap around me in an awkward embrace. "Do you want me to take you home?" He asks in a gentle voice. I look at him and shake my head no. "Well me and-erm- Rogue have a motel rented for the week if you wanna-um- sleep there." His face reddens as he offers and I find myself nodding yes. The nightmare must have shaken me up badly. Not even a day ago I would've Lucy kicked him for making such an offer, but now I felt weak and helpless. But, most of all I felt safe with Sting. It's like I have new respect for him after the nightmare. Was the horrendous dream a sign?

I feel myself being lifted up bridle style and I close my eyes drifting into a light dreamless slumber. My eyes flutter open and I see that I'm in a foreign bed. It's not as comfortable as my bed, but it's still pretty comfortable none the less. I look around to see familiar red eyes staring into my brown orbs. I instantly feel my heart rate beat faster and I try to urge it to stop, knowing that Rogue could hear it with his advance hearing.

"You're awake." He states and walks over to me. He places his left hand over my forehead. "You had a fever. It cooled down a bit. I sent Sting to go get some medicine and soup." He tells me, before walking over to the nightstand and picking up something shiny. I recognize it as soon as I get full view of it. "I went to your place to get some clothes for you to change in. I saw your keys and brought it. It's not safe for you to wonder off without them."

"Thanks." I mumble and take them from his hands gently. I notice Leo's key shine brighter than the others and I immediately know that he needs to talk to me in private. I look up when the door opens to reveal Sting with a bag of medicine and several cans of soup. He sets them down on the desk next to the entrance and walks over to me.

"Hey blondie I got some soup, so go get up and make it." He demands while sitting at the end of the bed. I stare at him and blink a few times before Lucy kicking him in the gut. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!?" He yells in anger mixed with amusement.

"I'm the one with the fever therefor that means that YOU have to make it." I huff and cross my arms. I notice Rogue sigh and shake his head before grabbing one of the cans and walking to the small kitchen area. Within ten minutes he walks over to me with some hot soup and orange juice. "Wow thanks." I smile at the black haired teen. He releases a small smile and I feel my heart flutter again. What's going on with me? It wasn't like this when I worked with him at the bank. What changed? My mind drift off back to the horror fest of a dream and I recall the part when Rogue was soothing me. My face heats up immediately. Because of that moment, I'm falling for Rogue Cheney.


	7. Chapter 7

"Thank you." I murmur to the boys after I finish my soup.

"Um you're welcome, I guess." Sting blushes, while Rogue nods.

"You should get some sleep." Rogue states and I comply by snuggling under the covers.

"Lucy." Erza cries with disappointment, "You could have saved them."

"I-I couldn't, I'm too weak." I sob out a glob of tears. "

"Maybe that you're problem." Gray interjects with a voice filled with pity, which makes me slightly angry.

I hear footsteps rumble behind me and I swirl around quickly. Natsu's there with pain clearly in his eyes. "Lucy, you're my best friend and you'll always be my best friend, but I don't think you should go on missions with us anymore. They're too dangerous for you, look others are getting hurt because of you. You're not only putting yourself in danger, but you've got these innocent people killed."

I gasp awake yet again, but I refuse to let tears fall. I look around to that there' no one here, so I grab my keys and head out the door. The sun gleams in my face as I trudge towards Fairy Tail. After twenty grueling minutes, I finally make it and as soon as I walk in I find myself being tackled.

"N-Natsu get off me!" I accidently let a little of my anger from earlier in my voice.

"Lucy where have you been!? You weren't home this morning and-wait…" Natsu sniffs me, which attracts team Natsu's attention.

"Um-"

"Why do you smell different? You kinda smell like…" His eyes widen in realization. "Are you ok?! Did they hurt you?!" He begins to inspect me as if he was a doctor, but as soon as he touches my skirt up I Lucy kick him through a wall.

"Hey flame brain, mind telling us what's going on." Gray demands as soon as Natsu crawls back from the wall. I take that moment to stand up and walk towards the bar, where Erza and Gray are sitting.

"I can smell Sting and Rogue on her, she reeks of them." He…growls?

"Sounds like he's jealous." Erza teases and I flush at the comment. "Wait did you say Sting AND Rogue!" She screams with a blush riding up her face. My eyes widen almost instantly and I could practically see what Erza is thinking.

"N-no It's not like that! They-um- helped me-"  
"Helped you with what exactly?" Gray quirks an eyebrow and I notice Natsu frowning.

"She was walking around in the middle of the night, shoeless, like an idiot." The devils themselves walk in. "We didn't know if you were still sick or not, so we decided to check on you. Don't get used to it." Sting looks away with a tinge of pink crossing his cheeks.

"Oh-um sorry for just leaving like that, but no one was there and…um yeah…." I feel myself getting flustered when my gaze reaches Rouge. What the hell? Why do I suddenly feel like this about him? A day ago I wouldn't even dare to think of him other that an acquaintance, but something changed last night. I scrunch my face up in confusion.

"Lucy? You ok?" Gray questions with a concerned tone. I notice Rogue stare at me. He seems to have a confused expression on his face. Maybe he's experiencing something similar to me?

"Yeah sorry I was just thinking about something. I think I should go home and make sure Natsu didn't touch anything." I shoot the Salamander a glare before smiling at Rogue and Sting. "Thanks again for last night." After that I walk out the guild and walk towards my home.

Once I arrive and lock my door, Loke appears in a flash of light. His expression is serious and grave. He walks over slowly and gives me a hug, which reminds me of the first night I had a conversation with him. "I'm sorry Princess." He murmurs in my hair.

"For what?" I finally hug him back.

"Of all things; I can't protect you from a few stupid nightmares." He snarls out obviously angry at himself. I lightly push his chest, so that his face is in front of mine.

"How do you know about them?" I question him sternly.

"We're your spirits; we need to be able to keep an eye on you every once in a while." He smiles sadly at me.

"They're just nightmares Loke, there's no need to worry about me." I smile at him in attempt to make him feel better.

"But they're not just nightmares are they? I can tell that they affect your thoughts. Whatever it is, it bothers you and don't you bother lying about it either." He says in a tone which is frightening, low, and calm.

"Please don't worry about that ok? I'm fine; I guess all my thoughts are just catching up to me. It's probably a late reaction to my dad's death. When I was young, a few weeks after my mom died, I would have nightmares all the time." I whisper softly to him making the air around us feel cold.

"Oh there's also something else I need to talk to you about." He says after about five awkward minutes.

"What is it?"

"Rogue and Sting, I don't think you should be around them. I get a bad feeling about them." He admits and my eyes widen in response.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean you have a bad feeling?" I stare at him in disbelief. What could be wrong about those two? The people who, just last night, helped me when I was sick.

"Something just doesn't feel right when you're around them. It's like I feel danger and it worries me." He explains and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. What could be dangerous about them? Well besides the fact that they could destroy three towns by themselves. But, they wouldn't do that…would they? I shudder at the thought.

"Ok." I agree, "I'll try to avoid them to the best of my ability." Once a say that I see that Loke relaxes and smiles at me. His smile soon turns into a smirk and he lifts my hand to his lips.

"I'm sorry princess, but I must depart. I'll think of your beautiful face every second of every day." He winks before he disappears in a flash.

"Weirdo." I mutter before heading over to the tub and taking a relaxing bath.


	8. White Knight

White knight Syndrome. I have white knight syndrome! That has to be it! That absolutely has to be it! Even though Rogue saved me in dream form I somehow fell for him and I fell hard. I've been avoiding him and Sting and so far it's been awful. My nightmares seem to have gotten worse. It's to the point that I can barely stand being around Natsu, Erza, and Gray. Each and every time I have a nightmare (every time I sleep), Rogue and Sting save and comfort me. I usually wake up longing for their presence.

I tend to see them in the guild a lot more recently. I normally leave when I see them, which has not gone un noticed by Rogue. I tend to sneak glances at him when I can and I notice when he sees me, there's hurt in his eyes. I eventually had to stop looking at him all together to spare myself from the emotional (sometimes physical)pain.

I sigh as I trudge out of my apartment. I walk on the street instead of the edge of it, feeling too depressed to balance myself.

"Lucy." A familiar voice says and I turn around, shock evident on my face.

"Um hey Rogue. What's up?" I say nervously and refuse to look directly at him.

"Can we talk?" He asks, while his eyes plead for me to say yes.

My mind begs me to say yes, but I remember the conversation Loke and I had a few weeks ago and I find myself shaking my head 'no'. I notice Rogue's expression morph into one of slight anger, but surprisingly I'm not intimidated or even frightened. "Let me rephrase that: We need to talk." He growls and my eyes widen in disbelief before they narrow.

"I said no." I glare at him with venom. I don't care how much I like him; no one's going to talk to me like that.

He grabs my wrist, his eyes watching mine. He then decides to grab my waist and shove me under his arm like luggage.

"HEY LET GO OF ME! THIS IS KIDNAPPING! LET GO!" I yell while trying to wiggle my way out of his hold. To my surprise he begins to whistle casually, which causes me to bite him. Of course he doesn't react and I think I hear him chuckling. I start pouting as I attempt to think of ideas to escape. My keys! They can help! I try to grab them, but I don't feel them on my belt. I groan when I come to the conclusion that I left them at home again.

I soon tire myself out and stop struggling. I feel my eyes start to droop until they finally flutter closed. Surprisingly I have no nightmares not even a dream. It was a peaceful nap overall. I wake up and notice that I'm on a familiar bed. I hear arguing and I sit up to find the sources. I see Sting and my kidnapper, Rogue.

"You can't just go around kidnapping people because they're avoiding you! I thought you were supposed to be the logical one in this relationship!" Sting groans.

"Shut up, she's awake now idiot." Rogue says and then walks towards me. I glare at him and scoot backwards until I hit the wall.

"What's your problem!? You can't just go around kidnapping gorgeous girls!" I yell and he quirks an eyebrow in response. I look over to see Sting snickering in the background. Rogue stops when he reaches the bed and takes in a breath of air.

"You're my mate." He says. I blink a couple of times before yelling.

"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST TELL ME THAT EARLIER!? YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KIDNAP ME AND DO THAT CREEPY STARE THING YOU WERE DOING!" I huff before realization dawns on me. "Oh shit."

"Well this just got awkward." Sting comments.

"Um-what does this mean exactly?" I question. I know a little bit about it from what Natsu told me, but not much.

Rogue takes a seat on the bed and begins to speak, "A dragon slayers mate is supposed to be a dragons slayers equal. Normally they would pick a mate who's strong willed-"

"Wait so you get to pick your mate?" I blush.

"Not exactly…there's something inside…it's like an…" Rogue struggles to find the right words.

"Imagine that there's a mini dragon inside of us and his mini dragon likes you." Sting explains.

"That sounds dirty when you put it that way…" I respond and I fill my face heat up once again.

"Just go with it Blondie." He rolls his eyes.

"As I was saying," Rogue sends a glare towards Sting, who just shrugs in response. "A dragon slayer chooses a mate who can hold their own. They don't rely too much on others and they're usually loyal."

They don't rely too much on others.

Mate who can hold their own.

Did I really fit those qualifications? Realization yet again dawns on me. Those thoughts and nightmares never happened around Rogue and Sting, only around Fairy Tail. I never feel like I'm weak when I'm around these Sabertooth guys. Only around Fairy Tail. The nightmares got worse when I avoided Rogue and Sting. These nightmares aren't a phase. They aren't just bad dreams. They're somehow connected to Rogue and Sting. Whatever this is wants me away from Fairy Tail. Whatever this is wants me closer to Rogue and Sting, but why? Was the mating thing a coincidence? It has to be. You can't just plan something like that.

"Blondie? Lucy? Lulu-"

"Lulu?" I question the blonde dragon slayer.

"It got you out of your thoughts didn't it?" He smirks and I roll my eyes.

"You ok?" Rogue asks and I give him a smile.

"Peachy." I reassure. "But, I don't like the idea of feeling forced into it, so we're doing it my way. You're going to take me out on a date and get to know me."

Rogue gives me an amused facial expression before agreeing.

"Congrats Blondie, you got Rogue to show more facial expressions than most people see from him in their life time. Rogue responds by throwing something towards Sting, but of course he dodges and I hear glass shattering. Where did he get glass from?

"Hey no need to throw things." Sting raises his hand in 'defeat'.

"I should go. I'm running out of money to pay for rent." I sigh while getting up. Rogue nods and Sting gives me thumbs up.

Now all I need to do is figure why I'm getting these nightmares and who is causing them.


	9. Bumble Bee

"Lucy! Thank goodness you're ok." Mirajane greets me once I walk into the guild. I smile at her and then notice that Loke's next to Mirajane.

I make my way towards them and Loke immediately engulfs me into a hug. "You need to stop leaving your keys behind hime."

"Sorry I went out for a walk and I guess they slipped my mind." I apologize. "Speaking of that, I need to talk to you." I sit down at the bar and he follows my lead. Mira gives me a strawberry smoothie and I thank her. "The nightmares aren't a coincidence." I say simply.

"What do you mean?" Loke furrows his eye brows.

"I mean that someone's giving them to me."

"Lucy are you sure? That's kind of magic is illegal." Mira pipes into our conversation. I nod my head in confirmation.

"Do you have any idea who's doing this?" Loke questions. I shake my head 'no'.

"Don't worry Lucy! I'll keep you safe." Natsu walks over and hugs me . "You smell like…why do you smell like them?"

"Like who?" Mira questions.

"I bumped into Rogue on the way here." I shrug.

"Maybe someone's messing with you because you're fat." Happy suggest while floating over me. I grab his tail in anger and pull his cheeks.

"Shut up you stupid cat! I am NOT fat." I growl.

"It does make sense…" Natsu agrees with his stupid exceed.

"You guys are the worst." I cry.

"Leave Lucy alone." Mira glares at them and takes me into a hug.

"Is Erza still on going on those S-class missions?" I question as I squirm out of Mira's arms.

"She's taking a few more days to relax, so she claims. I think she's meeting up with someone. " The match maker winks and I stifle a giggle.

"That would explain where she's been these past few weeks." I agree with a smile gracing my face.

"Can we get back to the nightmares?" Loke asks though he wears a serious expression.

I nod my head, "Someone obviously wants to get me away from Fairy Tail." I state.

"What do you mean?" Natsu scrunches his face up in confusion.

"The nightmares are always about…" I stop talking and I attempt to blink the tears away. I don't want to tell Natsu about this. I don't want to tell anyone about this. Who knows how they may react? "They're just about Fairy Tail kicking me out." I lie. I can't bring myself to tell them the horrible details. I don't want to remember. I just want to forget them, but I know that'll they'll come back to me tonight. Hopefully they won't be as graphic as they've been recently.

"Lushy?" I hear Happy's worried voice. "Lushy I'm sorry for calling you fat." He cries while snuggling into me.

"Huh? Oh it's ok, I must have zoned out." I smile at him. I look around and notice that Loke's missing, while Natsu's fighting with Gray. When did he get here?

"Loke said that he was going to investigate." Mira chirps. I nod and walk over to the request board.

Kill monster-89,000 jewels

No.

Find an ancient book-45,000 jewels

Maybe

Defeat bandits- 90,000 jewels

Nope.

Protect carriage-300,000 jewels

This person must be pretty important. I'll consider it.

"Lucy! Are you going on a mission?" Happy flies over to me. I nod in response.

"But, Natsu said not to go without him." Happy frowns.

"Who said I was going without him?" I question the flying fur ball. I grab the carriage job and get Mira to accept it. Then I go over to Gray and Natsu and grab them both by their wrist and drag them out the guild.

"Lucy what're you doing?" Gray asks, while I continue to drag the two towards the train station.

"We're going on a mission." I declare.

"But we can't go on any good missions since Erza's gone." Natsu pouts and I let go of their wrist and hit Natsu's head.

"Stop complaining! I have rent due soon and try not to destroy anything!" I yell at him.

Gray snorts and Natsu start to yell at him, but before a fight could break out I chop the side of Natsu's neck and he passes out.

Gray stares at me in shock, "Since when can you do that?"

"I've been studying Hyul du Bup." I state, but Gray gives me a blank stare.

"It's pressure point fighting. That one was one of the most simple techniques." I explain then I turn towards Natsu's limp body. "I'm actually surprised that is worked on him. This is probably going to be a rare moment." I sigh.

"Lucy you're scary." Happy somehow pales and I give him a fierce look.

"I'll show you something to be scared of." Happy then lets out a sound that's close to 'eep' and I continue to walk towards the grabs (drags) Natsu and I hear him mumble about Natsu being a fat ass.

After seven minutes we arrive and Gray tells me that he was going to sit down. I nod in agreement and head towards the ticket booth.

"HEY BLONDIE!" A familiar voice calls and I feel my left eye twitch.

"I have a name you know." I glower at Sting.

"Yeah and I really don't care." He rolls his eyes and walks towards me. I notice Rogue shaking his head while following.

"I'm guessing you two are going home?" I express my query towards Rogue and he nods in reply.

"We need to get back to Frosch and Lector before they do something stupid."

"You left them alone all this time?"

"Not exactly…Let's just say they have a babysitter." The dark clad teen smirks and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Can you two stop flirting." Sting crosses his arms.

"I'd hardly call that flirting." I mutter in annoyance.

"Lucy I didn't know you were close to them." Gray stalks over with a mischievous grin.

"Where's Natsu?" I ask ignoring his statement. I notice Happy snickering in the air before he flies into my arms.

"Napping."

"Where is he napping exactly?" I look around for any sign of a pink haired nuisance, but when I don't see him I give Gray a pointed look.

"He's fine trust me. By the way what time are we leaving?"

"I decided that we should go on the second train that leaves in thirty minutes." I answer.

"What time does the first one leave?" Gray smirks. My eyes then widen.

"You didn't!" I shriek and I see that the first train already left. "Where does the first train even go?" I take a deep breath before asking Gray.

He shrugs his shoulders in response.

"Gray go get him." I demand.

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Do I really need to answer that?" He gives me a smirk in response and I feel my right eye twitch. "Since you left Natsu on the train-"

"Locked in one of the supply closets too!" Happy cuts me off in a cheer.

"You two are evil!" I pull on Happy's face.

"Why are woo onwy huting me." The demonic blue devil spawn of a cat cries out.

My head instantly snaps towards Gray whose eyes open extremely wide. In a second I notice that he's gone. "YOU BETTER RUN!"

"I'm starting to feel bad for Rogue now." Sting grins and I instantly let go of Happy's cheeks and leap towards Sting, but of course he dodges just in time. Luckily Rogue catches me just before my face hits the ground.

"Thanks." I mumble, while stabbing Sting with my eyes. Maybe if I glare hard enough his head will explode.

"If you do that long enough your eyes might fall out." Rogue tells me and my attention shifts to him.

"You don't actually believe that do you?"

He smiles at me before responding, "It could be true."

"There's also a possibility that it's not."

"Do you want to be the person who finds out?"

My eyes widen as I quickly shake my head no. I hear Sting laughing.

"Don't worry Blondie, if your eyes fall out the mighty Sting Eucliffe will pawn them for you." I swear he cackles.

"HEY! THEY'RE MY EYES I SHOULD BE THE ONE TO PAWN THEM!" I yell.

"But how could you do that when you can't see?"

"They have glasses for that." I roll my eyes.

"They don't last long. You'll never make it in time and you'll be stuck, helpless, and blind in an unfamiliar place." He gives me a cocky grin.

"Are you two seriously doing this?" Rogue questions in disbelief.

Another train arrives and passengers start to depart. I instantly notice scarlet red hair in the crowd. "Lucy?" Erza runs towards me and crushes me into a hug. I think I can hear my back cracking.

"You might be hugging her too tightly." Rogue suggests and my back and I internally thank him.

"Mira said you weren't supposed to be back for a couple more days."

"Plans change. Where's Natsu and Gray and what's with Happy?" She points to the crying blue cat.

"Gray and Happy decided to lock Natsu in a closet on the first train." I have to stop myself from pulling Happy's cheeks again.

"They did what." She demands. Her gaze becomes murderous and I hear Sting and Rogue gulp. Her eyes moves towards Happy who decided that now would be a good time to fly away. Erza, of course, grabs his tail and then runs off to find Gray.

"TEN MINUTES UNTIL BOARDING."

"Great." I mutter. "I should go look for them before we miss the train."

"See ya Blondie."

"Bye Rogue bye Bumble Bee." I wave with a smirk.

"What the fuck did she just call me?"


	10. Kai

I trudge home with tears lacing my eyes. Natsu somehow ended up destroying the town, meaning we got -500 jewels. Yes we had NEGATIVE JEWELS! We weren't allowed to stay in the towns' local hotel either! We had to sleep in the forest and it doesn't help that during the whole mission I kept getting those stupid negative thoughts that tell me how weak I am. I'll go to the library in the morning so I can research about nightmare magic.

I open the door and let out a yawn. "Home sweet home."

"Hey Lemon head! You ran outta bread!" I hear someone call from my kitchen.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I scowl at him.

"Looking for food. Are you blind or something?" Sting questions while rummaging through my fridge.

"The mighty Sting doesn't need to answer you!" A red cat yells.

"Oh great another cat. Is this one going to call me fat too?"

Sting then immediately stops what he's doing and stares at me with a piece of turkey hanging from his mouth. "Of all things you are now where near fat." He says while eying my body.

"Keep your eyes up you perv!" I know that I'm sexy, but my body isn't a museum. But, at the same time as long as they only look and don't touch the display I guess its fine…

Slut

My eye twitches at the statement. Shut up.

"You two are loud." Rogue emerges from my room with a green cat in a pink frog costume on his head.

"I can be as loud as I want. It's my apartment, speaking of which. You two need to leave." I point to the door.

"What about us Ms. Fairy?" The green cat asks and my heart instantly melts.

"You can stay however long you want." I gush while grabbing the cat from Rogues head. "What's your name?"

"Frosch's name is Fro!"

"I'm Lucy."

"Fro thinks Lucy is nice." The exceed looks towards Rogue, who nods in agreement.

"Nice is the last thing I'd use to describe her." Sting remarks.

"Good thing no one asked you to." I mentally dagger him with knives of doom.

"Hey! That's no way to talk to the mighty Sting!" The red cat yells again. I put Frosch down and pinch the red exceeds cheeks.

"And that's no way to talk to someone in their own home!" I continue to pull.

"Sowy." He cries and I immediately stop.

"That was unexpected. What's your name?" I question.

"L-Lector." He blushes in embarrassment. I let out a small giggle.

"I'm Lucy." I put my hand out for him to shake. Lector hesitates for a minute before placing his paw into my palm. His eyes widen for a second before he snuggles into my chest.

"I guess you can all stay for a little while." I sigh, while walking to the couch. "What are you guys doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be at your guild?" I question.

Sting shrugs in response.

"But aren't you the guild master?"

"Sabertooth can take care of itself." He declares while closing the fridge.

"Rogue?" I turn my attention to him.

"We've gotten accustomed to coming here." He answers.

"Ugh. Well get unaccustomed. I don't have enough jewels to buy more food." I pout. I hear Sting snicker from the kitchen.

"Didn't you just go on a mission?" Rogue questions.

"Yeah. Long story short, we ended up owing the town money." I grumble with a glare.

"Have you thought about going on a mission on your own?" Rogue suggests.

"Last time I did Natsu got upset. He said something about being a team and don't go without him. Ugh I regret agreeing with him. Now I'm broke." I pout and cross my arms. Frosch sits next to me, while Lector sits on my lap.

"Screw him. You're an adult you can do whatever you want." Sting walks into the room with five sandwiches.

"But-"

"He's right Lucy. You're able to make your own decisions." Rogue agrees.

"Speaking of which, when is our date anyway?" I ask Rogue.

"Tomorrow? " He suggest and I nod.

"Fairy-san and Rogue-kun are going on a date?" Fro smiles. "Is Fairy-san Rogue-kuns girlfriend?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." I tease the green kitten.

"Fro hopes so, Fairy-san is very nice." The exceed comments.

"Tch." Sting rolls his eyes and I throw a pillow at him. He catches it with ease and throws it back. It hits me in the head and my eye twitches. Lector and Frosch both leave the couch quickly and curl up next to Rogue. "OOO did I make the princess mad?" A smirk graces his lips.

I grab a vase from my coffee table and aim it at his head. He dodges it and it shatters against the wall. "Was that necessary?" Rogue eyes the area where the vase hit.

"Yes." I answer simply.

Sting stares at me for a while before walking out the door. Rogue sighs and wishes me a goodnight before he and the exceeds follow Sting out the door. I suddenly feel bad, but shrug it off and take a short bath. Afterwards I write a little of my book and then go to bed.

"Lucy come with me." Rogue pleads.

"What do you mean." I question.

"Join Sabertooth."

"No." I deadpan. How could I leave my guild? My home.

"Tch. She's obviously too weak to be a part of any guild." Gray sneers.

"Shut up! That's not true." Sting defends me.

This is a dream.

It's not real.

This never happened.

I wake up immediately and decide that I should take another bath. Whoever's messing with me has something to do with Sting and Rogue. They obviously want me to leave Fairy Tail, but why? Do they want me to join Sabertooth? Is it a Sabertooth mage messing with me? Ugh! I really need to go do some research. I depart from the tub and get dressed. I eat some toast and then make my way towards the library.

The building looks new and smells of paint, but on the inside it looks like it hasn't been dusted for ages. I make my way towards the 'Magic Studies' section which is luckily in alphabetical order. My eyes scan through the D section and lands on Dream Magic. If Nightmare magic is forbidden then there's most likely not a book on it. I grab the book and sit on the ground and start to read.

Table of Content

Pg. 1 Origin

Pg.90 Religious beliefs

Pg. 100 Similar Magic

Pg. 103 Spells

I turn to page 100 and see Illusionary Magic. It's one of the hardest magic to master. It usually takes years to even use it correctly. Is it possible to merge Illusionary magic with dream magic? I shake my head at the thought. Mastering Illusionary magic is hard enough. Imagine learning how to use dream magic on top of that and then learning how to merge them. It would take a life time to master, but the idea shouldn't be turned down. I sigh before putting the book up and leaving the building.

"Ow." I hit someone on the side walk.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." I look up and see that I ran into a man who looks around 19 to 25.

"It's okay miss-"

"Lucy. My name's Lucy." I supply.

"I'm Kai Allard. You're from Fairy Tail right?" He asks. I nod in response. "Have you seen Sting Eucliffe? He has a lot of paperwork to do and I think he's avoiding it."

"I saw him yesterday, but if he's still around he might be at the Fairy Tail guild. I'm actually heading there right now."

"Mind if I join you?" He smiles.

"Not at all." I return the smile and lead him to the guild.


	11. Date

Kai and I enter the guild. Sting and Natsu are fighting, while Rogue is sitting at the bar.

"Sting!" Kai yells and the blond ceases the brawl. I walk towards Rogue and sit next to him. He offers me a smile and I return it.

"Hey."

"Hey."

We gaze into each other's eyes for what feels like an eternity. Just his presence makes me less worried about my situation. Is this an effect of being mates? It feels amazing being next to him.

"Oh." I hear Mira say, I give her a questioning look. "Remember what the cards said?" She winks and I blush. I completely forgot about that.

"Cards?" Rogue questions and I give Mira a glare, which she seems to be oblivious too.

"Cana predicted that there would be a dragon slayer in Lucy's life." The model chirps.

"Did you hear her latest prediction?" I ask innocently.

"No what is it?" Mira's eyes light up.

"One barmaid is going to disappear soon due to some unknown reason." I begin to sip my smoothie, but Mira swipes it away. I can hear Cana chuckling from the corner of the bar. Rogue's wearing an amused smile, while Mira is pouting.

"That wasn't very nice Lucy." She lets out a huff.

"I-" I begin to respond, but I'm cut off by another voice.

"But I don't wanna do it!" Sting complains to Kai. My head swivels to their direction.

"You're the guild leader! Therefore you need to abide to the responsibilities that come with it!" Kai yells, his face red from anger.

"Can't it wait?" Sting pleads.

Kai shakes his head no, "You've been putting this off for the past two months. Three days ago one of the council members came for an evaluation and your absence made us look foolish."

"The hell do you mean?" Sting growls, eyes narrowed.

"I mean that they were already wary of a nineteen year old taking over, but if you keep going at this rate then you'll be forced to resign from your position and the council will either decide a new guild master for us or get rid of the guild all together." Kai pinches the bridge of his nose. Stings face suddenly turns into one of a serious expression. He then nods and follows Kai out the hall without uttering anything else.

I notice Rogue sigh beside me and I give him a questioning look.

"Looks like he finally got it through his thick skull." Rogue says with a small smile.

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"This has been going on for a while, since he was appointed Guild Master. Sting has been taking his duties lightly and most of the guild doesn't appreciate that." He explains.

"Why follow him to Magnolia instead of trying to keep him at Sabertooth?" Mira interjects and Cana nods in agreement.

"What good would that do? Sting doesn't like to listen to reason unless it slaps him in the face. "

"I see, so basically you let Sting do whatever so he can learn from that?" I respond and he nods.

"How did you get that from what he said?" Mira scrunches up her face and I shrug. Rogue gets up and then turns to me.

"Remember dinner tonight at 8." He reminds me before making his exit.

"Does Lucy have a date?!" Mira gasps. I rub the back of my neck sheepishly and nod shyly.

"No way! Lu-chan why didn't you tell me?!" Levy prances her way towards me. Suddenly most of the guild eyes were on me as my cheeks burn brightly from the attention.

"Maybe because you guys make such a big commotion." I mutter, annoyance lacing my voice like thick venom.

"A date?" Natsu runs towards me with Gray in toll.

"Yeah." I sigh rubbing my temples.

"With who?" He presses.

"Rogue." I answer shortly.

"You mean that anti-social freak?" Gray says and I whip my head towards him.

I give him a glare, "Shut up! You don't know him nor do you have the right to say something like that!" I huff, mood suddenly dampened. I get up from the stool and start my way towards the doors.

"Lucy I'm-" Gray gets cut off by Natsu, who then starts a fight. I shake my head before walking out and heading to the clearing. I sit on the same tree stump as last time and meditate. I focus on my magical core and attempt to strengthen it. I feel as it I focus on my magical core and attempt to strengthen it. I feel as it expands slowly. Much like lifting weights, the farther it stretches the more it weights. Exhaustion spreads through me as I fall to the ground soaked in sweat. I pant, trying to regain my breathe. A smile grazes my lips: not an ounce of those retched words were thought. I sit there for for a few minutes until my stomach growls. A slight blush flaunts across my face. I look up to see its sunset. It should be about five right now, so I should be able to go home, shower, eat a quick snack, and get dressed in time.

As I walk home a puff of orange smoke surrounds my vision. Loke is then revealed with a knowing smirk. "Hello princess. Do you mind if I accompany you on your walk home?" He asks and I nod. "Capricorn is proud of you. Being able to hold out for hours is a big feat." He praises me. "But, of course you know that isn't what I came here to talk about." His face turns stoic. He wants to talk about Rogue and me being his mate.

"Of course." I agree.

"I've noticed that you weren't as distressed last night." He comments.

"Last night help me conclude that whoever is messing with me wants me to join Sabertooth. The question is why? What would be the pros of me joining? They're obviously using Sting and Rogue to get to me, but of course those two don't notice. When I'm with those two the mental attacks aren't as bad or sometimes not there at all much like today." I brief him.

"Interesting. I'll tell this to the others. Have fun on your date princess." His smirk returns and he disappears once my door is in sight. I open it and make my way to the shower. After I finish I enter the kitchen with just a towel on and eat a slice of toast. I turn around to walk back to my room and let out a screech when I see Rogue on my couch reading some magazine.

His gaze flickers towards me and he lets out an amused chuckle.

"WHAT THE HELL ROGUE!?" I yell, clenching onto my towel with all my might.

"I got bored." He answers.

"So you broke into my house when I wasn't home." My eyes narrow dangerously.

"You weren't at the Guild so I assumed you would be here, but you weren't so I waited. By the way you have ten minutes before I'm suppose to pick you up."

My eyes switch to view the clock and they widen in shock. I was in the shower for two hours! I scramble towards my room and literally throw every outfit I have onto my bed. Crap! What am I going to wear?! Semi formal? Casual? Ugh! What restaurant are we going to?

My attention turns towards the knock on my door. "I suggest you wear something casual. I have surprise that requires a lot of walking." Rogue calls from the other side.

Great now I can eliminate one third of my closet. My hands roam around my bed until I finally find a pink dress with a bow in front. The skirt area is white with pink trimmings. A smile graces my lips: perfect.


	12. Fire of my Heart

My eyes glow in approval, as I stare at myself in the mirror. I decide to arrange my hair into a quick pony tail and I grab my black purse. I open my door and walk into my living room. Rogue offers me a smile.

"You're late." He smirks.

"Only by…three minutes" I state haughtily.

"Late is late. Lucky for you I'm patient."

We begin to walk in comfortable silence. I let Rogue lead the way to wherever we're going. I notice how we pass by a few restaurants and my curiosity bubbles in excitement. "Where are we going?" I question.

"Surprise." He responds with a grin. I roll my eyes, but smile back none the less. My eyes start to study our surroundings. The weather is absolutely perfect. A light breeze carries its way through the air. "Close your eyes." Rogue instructs and I hesitantly obey. I feel my body being lifted from the ground and pressed against his chest bridle style.

A small 'eep' releases from my mouth at the sudden movement. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Surprise."

"Fine." I cross my arms…while in his arms. I blush at the thought. I'm in Rogue Cheney's arms!

Crunch

Crunch

Crunch

Snap

My eyes snap open to the new sounds. We're in a forest, but it seems oddly familiar. After five more minutes, Rogue finally put me down and I gasp at the sight. It's the stream that I meditate at, but now it's accompanied with a table and two chairs. Fairy lights hang around the trees, different colors grace them. On the table lies salad, steak, and wine.

"This is beautiful." I whisper before turning to him, "I use this place to meditate. Why'd you choose this place?"

"Crowds make you uneasy unless you're confident with the situation. You tend to act out and not be yourself." He explains, which leaves me in awe.

How could he know that? I push that thought aside almost immediately and decide to change the subject. "So is Sting still mad at me?" I question my date.

"Hmm?" Rogue leads me towards the table. "Oh don't mind him. He's being pissy for another reason, but he'll get over it." A smirk makes its way onto his face, but it quickly fades away. "He'll most likely forget all about it. He can't hold on to grudges. He's been like that since we were kids."

My interest's peeks at that new information, which ignites my next question, "How did you and Sting meet?"

"I met him a couple of years after Skiadrum's death." He started, "We've both had something in common at the time, so it was easy to bond." He stops talking and I don't expect him to continue.

That must be horrible to have to kill the person who raised you. I wonder if he felt guilty. That must have been lonely until he met Sting. He didn't have to go through that pain alone. I look up from my plate and stare at his red orbs. Admiration flows through me and tears drip from my eyes. It must be horrible to carry that burden, but at the same time he has stayed strong. That's one of the things that separates Sting and Rogue. Sting didn't hesitate to brag about killing his dragon, but just by looking into Rogues eyes, you could tell he's suffering from it.

I stand up and make my way towards to man in my thoughts. He furrows his eye brows. "Lucy…you're crying." He says awkwardly, but I ignore him and engulf him in a hug. He seems shocked, but slowly wraps his arms around me in response. I'm practically sitting in his lap, but right now I really don't care.

We release each other, but I don't leave his lap. "My mom died the same day the dragons disappeared. We were close; she's the reason I'm a celestial mage." I look down towards my lap and smile weakly. "She was always kind to her spirits and it amazed me." I proceed to tell him about my spirits, Kuro, my father, running away. "It's kinda funny; the only reason I even wanted to join Fairy Tail was because of me." I giggle to myself.

"Mind elaborating?" He takes a sip of wine and offers me some. We've been sharing his plate since we're both pretty comfortable with where I'm sitting. I sip some of his wine and nod.

"I forgot how, but somehow the team got pulled into the past. When I was younger my carriage got loose, so I saved myself. I don't even know if that makes sense." I snicker and Rogue smiles at me.

"It's getting late, allow me to escort you home?" Rogue asks, the smile never leaves his lips.

"Of course!" It would be the proper thing to do." I hop off of him and stretch. "I feel like I talked to much." I admit one the way home.

"Don't. I like learning about you." A blush shoots across his cheek and mine decide to imitate his. We walk mostly in silence until I notice Rogue's face scrunch up.

"What's up-"I start to ask, but I smell something burning. We speed up a bit until I see my house in flames. "MOM! DAD!" I yell in fear and run into the burning building. I can hear Rogue behind me, yelling at me to stop, but I ignore him. I have to save my letters! I have to save mom and dad! Tears pour down my face as I reach my room. I cough and try my best to avoid the flames, luckily my desk is untouched. I hurriedly search for the box in question. The flames dance towards me, but I can't seem to find the letters. I start to shake violently and throw anything that's not the letters behind me, feeding the fire. Sweat drips down my face and my coughs increase.

"Lucy!" Rogue calls for me, but I continue my search.

"I have to find them!" I yell out. I notice a silver gleam and instantly grab it. I turn to see that I'm surrounded by flames and there's no way out. No! No! No! No! I can't die now! I'm not ready. Tears overtake my vision accompanied by blurs. I'm feeling dizzy from the ferocity of my coughs.

"Lucy!" Rogue emerges from the corner and grabs me. Soon I'm immersed by his shadow and we appear outside. He sets me down gently.

"Thank you." I croak out and hug him.

"Don't do something like that again." He tells me, but I look down.

"I had to save them." I whisper, clinging onto the box I saved.

"LUCY!" I see Gray, Natsu, Erza, Levy, Happy, and Wendy run towards us.

"Are you alright?" Gray asks.

"Who did this!?" Erza demands.

"Lu-chan!" Levy wails.

"Are you injured anywhere?" Wendy questions worriedly.

I notice Natsu's face crumple up. As he inspected the area, he then runs in and proceeds to eat the flames.

"I'm fine." I mumble lowly. I turn to look back at the place I've called home, now in ruins.

"If you need somewhere to sta-"Levy suggests, but I cut her off.

"I can't do that to you Levy-chan. I don't want to be a burden."

"But where else can you go?" She probes.

"She has a point." Gray says, while eloping me into a hug.

"I'll stay at an inn until damages are taken care of. I'll do missions to pay it off."

Erza walks over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Lucy if you need anything come to us okay? We don't like to see our friend hurting." I nod and give her a teary smile. I look behind me and see Rogue standing there, staring intently at me. I walk over to him and give him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you. We're going to have to have a redo." I chuckle lightly and he offers me a small grin before blending into the shadows.


	13. Nightmare

A week has passed, but the nightmares haven't. I find myself losing more and more sleep every day, which makes my work sloppy. Being awake doesn't help much either. The negative thoughts plague my mind. Concentration struggles to find me. I can't bear to see the worry in my friend's eyes. The pity they all share at my expense.

It's because you're weak.

The voice drifts into my mind once again. Fighting it is useless.

You're useless.

Tears prick the corners of my eyes, but I quickly wipe them away. The voices can go fuck themselves. I refuse to let them shatter my confidence.

"Lucy?" I look up to see Mira. I'm guessing that I walked into the guild on instinct. "I was just about to go looking for you. Master wants to see you." Her smile instantly brightens my mood.

"Okay thanks Mira." I instantly head towards the stairs and make my way up. Once I'm at the door I a knock a couple of times. Laxus is the first person I see when the door swings open, so I give him a slight wave.

"Lucy please sit." Master tells me. I, of course, comply and begin to mess with the hem of my skirt.

He's probably going to kick you out.

Fuck you.

"You okay?" Laxus quirks an eyebrow. I blush and nod in response. "I had Freed investigate to find out who's mind fucking you; all he could find out is that this person has a weird magical signature."

I stare at him in awe. "Thank you for thinking about me." Laxus nods in response.

"Lucy though your situation is very concerning, I have an important job for you. I need you to deliver this to Sabertooth. It's essential that this arrives there today." Master instructs.

"Yes of course Master." I accept the envelope from him.

"Thank you Lucy. Also I'm doing everything I can to bring the bastard, who dares to hurt one of my children, down."

"Th-thank you for all your work." Tears begin to rise into my eyes. HE nods in response and I wipe the salty liquid from my eyes.

After I was dismissed, my legs immediately moves towards the train station. I buy my ticket and board the train. Not long after I sit down, I feel someone tap on my shoulder.

"You're Lucy right?" The guy I met at the bookstore asks. What was his name again? Sai? No that's a Naruto character. Jai? No! It's Kai!

"Yup. And you're Kai right?: HE nods and I internally do a snoopy dance.

"You are correct." He give me a grin. "So what brings you," Kai looks around, "…this train." An awkward smile appears on his lips and I can't help but to giggle.

"I'm actually going to Sabertooth deliver something." I answer. I notice how his eyes slightly light up.

"How interesting. Well I guess I have to be your tour guide. Hmm…I remember my first time going to Sabertooth." Kai spaces out.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you join Sabertooth?" I question.

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you joined Fairy Tail." He challenges, while taking the seat across from me.

"Okay fair enough, when I was younger I was saved by a Fairy Tail member. It just so happens that, that member was me." I rub the back of my head.

"Time travel?" He questions and I nod.

"An eye for an eye, so what's your story?"

"Of course," He offers me a smile, "Eight years ago I was forced away from my home. My partner and I were on a mission that went bad and I woke up in Fiore. Alone. It's been eight years since I've seen my sister." Kai's eyes dim. "I was found by the Sabertooth master of the time and he offered me a chance to become stronger.

"Is there a way to get back home?" Tears stain my eyes. That's terrible how he was separated from his own family and waking up not knowing where his partner was. I can't imagine being forced away from Fairy Tail, especially for so many years. But, technically was for those seven years. Does that even count? It felt like an hour at the most. I really can't relate, since I didn't actually live through that. My heart aches for him.

"I've tried, but I don't think I can go back," I hear slight uncertainty in his voice, " but I've made family and friends here, so it's not that bad." He offers me a smile, "Hey look, we're almost there."

I grab his hand and hold it in mine. "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask me." I tell him, my brown eyes never leaves his.

"Th-thank you. You are too kind Lucy." Shock over takes his features, but is quickly replaced with relief.

"So what's this about a tour?" I attempt to lighten the mood. He gives me a grateful look and offers his arm to me as we depart the train. My arm attaches to his and he lead me towards the guild.

My eyes widen once we arrive. The building is grand and bold. There's no way anyone in their right mind could miss it. It's about the size of half the Heartfillia estate.

We enter the building and I'm immediately swamped by Rufus. "Lady Lucy it's a pleasure." He kisses my hand.

"Lady Lucy?" I question the blonde. Before he could respond I feel a hand guide me from Rufus and Kai. My head swivels to the side and my eyes land on Rogue. "You're here to deliver something to Sting right?" I nod in response. "Let me accompany you."

"Sorry looks like you'll have to give me that tour another time." I say to Kai, who responds by telling me no worries. Rogue offers me his hand and I take it. As soon as that action occurs the guild goes silent. Murmurs replace the silence soon after.

Rogue leads me towards the stairs and guides me up them. After a few twist and turns we finally arrive. The door creaks open without anyone touching it, which sends shivers down my spine. Once it fully opens I notice that the chair behind the desk is backwards.

My right eye begins to twitch as irritation flows through me. "I swear if you turn around petting Lector I will punch you."

"Awe. You're such a fucking buzz kill." I hear Sting mutter.

"Rogue I suggest you don't use your shadows to scare me." I give him a pointed look.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." He replies and I glare at him.

Sting twirls around in the chair a few times before stopping himself to face us. I release Rogue's hand and step into the room. I walk towards his desk and hand Sting the letter. He opens the letter roughly then his eyes scan for its contents. I notice how his face goes grim.

"Rogue I want you to take Lucy back tomorrow, I should have my response ready by then. Also please send Kai in." Sting instructs and Rogue nods. I walk towards Rogue, whose arm wraps around my shoulder.

We leave the room quietly until I ask, "Why Kai?"

"He's Sting's adviser." The dark clad wizard answers.

"That makes sense." I mentally note that piece of information.

Once we go back downstairs, Yukino immediately hugs me, thus ripping me away from Rogue. Rogue goes off to find Kai. "Lucy!" She yells in excitement.

"Hey Yukino." I hug her back and give her a smile.

"How long are you here for?" The white haired beauty questions.

"Until tomorrow."

"Yay! You can room with me then." Excitement is evident in her voice.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a burden-"

"Lucy where else are you going to go? You can barely afford the inn you've rented." She gives me a pointed look and I sigh. Yukino is right.

"Okay." I groan in defeat.

"Woo!" Yukino cheers, "Come on lets go!" She grabs my arm and leads me towards what I assume are the dorms.

Three hours later I find myself in the shower. My muscles relax under the warmth of the water. I use Yukino's Lavender scented Shampoo in my hair.

I finish up and dry myself off with the yellow fluffy towel Yukino left for me. I get dressed in the night clothes Virgo left for me.

"Lucy are you done yet?" The white haired mage knocks on the door. I swing the door open and nod at her. Okay, I have your bed made up already. Don't wait up for me, I have a date." She winks at me.

"Good luck!" I shout before she leaves the room. I don't hesitate to crawl into the spare bed in the room. As soon as my head hits the pillow, sleep takes control.

Blood. Blood was everywhere. The red liquid of my friends was splattered everywhere.

"Lucy!" I could hear Gray scream right before a sword pierced his heart. I struggle to stifle a scream.

Useless.

Dark clouds loom above me as if to threaten rain. Thunder and lightning blare from the sky, but no liquid descends. My spirits are out of commission, which leads me with only my whip. Natsu disappeared along the battle, but judging by the puddle of blood he left in his place, he won't last long. Levy is the blood and guts that decorate the wall. Erza's arm has been sliced off, but she continues to show determination. I have no idea where everyone else is.

"GRAY!" I can hear Natsu's quivering voice. He can barely stand yet here he is killing Gray's killer. All I can do is stand here, bound by fear. My legs tremble and my knees give out.

Pathetic.

My hands cover my ears in attempt to block out the sound. Tears barricade my eyes, as if they were protecting me from the horrid site ahead.

"Lucy! Watch out!" Erza's voice carries through the air and infiltrates my eardrums. My eyes wander up to see a green blast heading towards me. I don't move. I can't move. All I could do is allow death to take me from my misery. As it makes contact with my chest, a rush of pain fills me.

Weak. Pathetic. Worthless. Stupid. Burden.

Stop!

Weak. Pathetic. Worthless.

No!

Weak. Pathetic. Worthless.

Stop! Shut Up!

"Lucy!" I'm startled awake by a familiar voice. "Shhh I'm here."

My screams cease, but I start to sob in Rogue's chest. "I-It's never gotten that bad before!" Tears spill onto his shirt. His hand makes circular patterns on my back, which comforts me greatly.

"Lucy I swear I will help take down whoever's doing this to you." I hear Loke vow, but I can't respond.

"What are you talking about?" I could practically hear Rogue narrow his eyes. No. I don't want him to know. I don't want him to see how weak I am. Who the hell gets defeated by nightmares!? I don't want him to look at me different. To look at me like a… burden.

Loke immediately tells Rogue about the nightmare magic user. "I'm pretty sure Lucy noticed this too; when she's around Sabertooth mages nothing happens." My faithful spirit explains.

"She's most likely calm right now because of the mating situation." Rogue pets my hair. The tears have long stopped, but I can still myself slightly shake. "But that doesn't explain why she had this nightmare."

"I assumed it was a Sabertooth mage, but tonight proved me wrong." Loke admits, angel lacing his voice. Before I could hear Rogue's response, I fall into a dreamless slumber.

My eyes flutter open, but I quickly shield them from the light. Once I feel like it's safe to adjust, I remove my hand from my eyes.

"You're awake!" A tiny voice squeals in obvious delight. I let out a small scream, but stop myself when I notice that it's Fro.

"Fro was worried for Rogue's girlfriend." Fro admits shyly. I scoop the exceed into my arms and hug her.

"Don't worry Fro I'm alright."

"Lucy." My head swivels to the left and I see Rogue, I take a quick look around and assume that he took me to his room. "We're going to talk, but I need to do something first." My eyes automatically take in his serious expression as I nod.

Five minutes late I find myself in the shower. The nightmare from last night plays in my head like a video on repeat.

"GRAY!" Natsu's frail voice accompanies the unwanted film. The picture of Gray's death refused to leave. Tears roll down my cheeks, but is quickly washed away from the shower. My breathing becomes slightly jagged.

Breathe Lucy Breathe.

Once I calm myself down I start to wash myself. When I finish I call Virgo to give me a change of clothes. I step out the bathroom, feeling refreshed. My feet guides me back to the bed, which had a surprise for me. Breakfast! The meal consisted of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

"Rogue to Fro that he'll be back soon!" Fro informs me. I nod in response then sit on the bed. My hand reaches for a slice of bacon, but I only chew a nibble of it before putting it back.

My mind wanders back to last night. Rogue knows. Rogue wants to talk about it. Rogue managed to calm me down, but apparently it's only because we're mates. Does that mean he's forced to care for me? Now that I think about it, none of these thoughts occurred until after all this mating business.

But why did I have such an extreme nightmare, while surrounded by Sabertooth mages? This one was different too. Normally It would be someone from Fairy Tail, who would insult me, but this time it was the thoughts itself.

Loke said that he assumed that is was someone from Sabertooth, but he isn't sure anymore. Maybe this is an attempt to throw us off. I grip my head as soon as a headache infiltrates my brain.

"Miss Lucy." Fro's voice fills the air.

"Hmm?" I turn to look at the cosplaying cat.

"Are you okay? Fro is worried, Miss Lucy barely touched her food."

"She's right, you should eat." Rogue's voice startles me.

"I'm not that hungry." I state.

"Fro can you go retrieve the letter from Sting?" Rogue questions his companion. Fro excitedly jumped at the idea and didn't hesitate to go. "We need to talk."

"I know." I whisper. My eyes avoid his as I look down.

"Tell me about it?" He requests.

"It started about a month ago…" I begin to tell him everything from beginning to current times. I don't leave any details out except for what my last nightmare consisted of.

"Lucy." The bed shifts from his added weight. "Lucy look at me." I comply. "I swear I will do whatever it takes to help you."

My eyes widen at this promise. A warm feeling swarms my stomach. I am barely aware of when I kiss his cheek. Pink floods his face and I let out a giggle. "Thank you." He nods in response.

Rogue spends the next five minutes trying to convince me to eat. I finally give in and munch on the rest of the bacon.

"Happy now?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Maybe." He smirks.

"You know what will make me happy?"

"What's that?"

"If you fed me." I didn't expect him to actually do it, but to my surprise he cut a piece of pancake before feeding it to me.

"Happy?" He mocks me.

"Maybe."

Twenty minutes later we find ourselves getting ready to leave the guild. Fro is in my arms enthusiastically talking to me. Rogue is in Stings office discussing something. My eyes wander towards Kai, whose eyes hold worry. His hands are nervously shaking. What wrong with him?

"Lucy!" Yukino runs towards me.

"Hey Yukino, how was your date? It must have been great if you were out all night long." I give her a suggestive look, which she response to by giving me a wink.

"It was great- no! Amazing!" A glint appears in her eyes, "I came back and you were gone though. I thought you left without telling me bye!" The glint dims down as tears threaten to fall from her eyes.

"Of course not!" I don't mention how I was about to do that on accident. It's a good thing she found me before I left. We both chat until Rogue comes back.

"Ready?" He asks.

"Yeah."

"Fro is too!"


	14. Smitten

After comforting Rogue on the train, we make our way to the guild. I allow Fro to sleep in my arms as Rogue and I chat. We're so deep in conversation that we don't notice the figure ahead running towards us until it's too late.

"Lucy!"" Natsu yells while tackling me to the ground. "I haven't seen you all week!"

"Maybe that's because you been on missions all week." I groan. Natsu gets off me and I check to make sure Fro's okay. Luckily he wasn't squished.

"Hey Rogue." Natsu grins.

"Hello Natsu," Rogue's lips tilt slightly upward in greeting as he helps me up.

" !" Fro wakes from his slumber.

We all walk into the guild together; Natsu leads the conversation. I hand Fro to Rogue and excuse myself from the area. Immediately my feet guide me towards Master Makarov's office. Before I could form the thought of knocking, the door swings open and Laxus makes way for me to enter. I don't hesitate to give Master the letter. His eyes scan over the contents with determination, as his free hand dismisses us both from his office.

Laxus and I walk out in sync and he guides me towards his office. Once we enter he leads me to the chair in front of his desk, a very nice expensive desk if I may add, and he then sits across from me."Lucy." Laxus calls and my head snaps up to his direction. "I need you to tell me more about what's happening to you." He bluntly stated.

I watch him with calculating eyes. How do I know he's not going to use this information against me? No! I can't think like this. Nobody in Fairy Tail would do such a thing! Not long after my hesitation do I indulge him on the situation at hand,"It started about a month ago or maybe a little longer than a month. It was mild at first, but then the thoughts and nightmares kept increasing. I think it started during those three days I wasn't here. I vaguely remember hearing voices before passing out, I'll have to ask Loke if he noticed anything," I noted, "The nightmares started sometime that week or maybe it was the week after? Not the point!

"They started off mild, well mild compared to now at least, but I noticed that it always had something to do with FairyTail doing something uncharacteristic and Sting and Rogue saving me. So I'm guessing someone's trying to get me to leave the guild and join Sabertooth, but I don't understand why they would go through all this trouble."

Laxus nods, indicating that he processed what I said, "I'll have Freed put some anti magic runes around your bed."

"Thank you." I smile, resisting the urge to hug him. He gives me a lazy smirk in return and I then leave to go join my boyfriend.

"Hey Mira can I please have a strawberry smoothie?" I ask, while sliding into the bar stool next to Rogue,

"Sure thing Lucy, coming right up!" She says cheerfully , which causes me to smile. Not long after she hands me my smoothie 'free of charge'. I don't complain as I merrily sip my drink. I ignore the fact that Rogue is staring at me with a small smile. He's smiling at me! And I didn't even do anything, I internally gush. So much for the ignoring part. A blush overrides my face, but I attempt to hide it by focusing on my drink. Maybe he'll think that the color of my smoothie is effecting my face…

"Yo Rogue." Gajeel walks up with a cocky grin. Oh look a distraction! Thank you Gajeel!

"No." Rogue says with disinterest without looking at Gajeel. I notice a slight smirk on his face and I struggle to hide my own. How cute he's teasing him.

"The fuck do ya mean!" Gajeel barks taken aback.

"One word. Two letters. I won't repeat myself." Oh snap Rogue's getting sassy.

I roll my eyes in amusement as the two begin to bicker back and forth. A cup slams onto the bar counter on my right and my attention turns to the source. I watch as Cana lifted another cup and chugs it down in one gulp. How the hell is she not even tipsy!?

"So Lucy," Mira calls for my attention, "When's the next sleep over?"

My eyes widen at the idea, "Nope. No. Nuh Uh. Never again." I glare at her and then resume to cater my drink.

"You know you had fun." Cana taunts with a wink.I flip her the bird in response and Mirajane gasps in pure horror.

"Lucy!" She grabs my face, forcing me to look her in the eyes, "What have they done to you!?" Seriously all I want right now is to finish my smoothie.

"What?" I question while removing my face from her grasp.

"Sabertooth!" She exclaims and I finish up my drink. I kinda want another one.

"Can I have another smoothie?"

"I doubt lover boy over here had anything to do with her corruption," Cana points out.

"You're right! It had to be his partner." Mira nods in agreement and I roll my eyes as she ignores my request.

"I'm just tired," I admit and Mira's eyes noticeably soften.

Cana pulls out her cards from her bra. She then urges me forward and I comply by moving closer to her. Her hands begin to professionally shuffle the deck and I watch in mild fascination. They begin to glow purple as she sets the deck down. She picks out three cards and gently flips them.

"This," the brunette points to the first card, "means someone with bad intentions." I observe the card, but there's not much to see. On the card lies a lone figure dressed in dark clothing. The next card shows a group of people laughing. "This is the friend card meaning that the perpetrator is someone you consider to be your friend." I nod and my eyes roam to the last one. "I don't know who this is supposed to refer to, but this shows us that someone is caring." Cana's face scrunches up in confusion. The card had a simple medical kit symbol on it.

"Lucy maybe you should make a list of all your friends." Gray walks towards me. I notice how silent the guild is, which is rare.

"That's gonna be a long list." I look him straight in the eye.

"How about a list of your close friends?" Rogue suggests. I swivel my body so I could face him. He gives me a small reassuring smile as Mira hands me a pen and paper.

Natsu.

Happy.

Gray.

Levy.

Gajeel.

Mirajane.

Cana.

Erza.

Wendy.

Juvia.

Rogue. (duh)

Sting (kinda)

Gray takes the paper from me and inspects it with a slight nod of his head. "I'll have to investigate everyone on this list." He decides.

"Yo ice princess how do we know this isn't all you!?" Natsu, of course, riles Gray.

"The hell's that supposed to mean!?" Gray reacts exactly how Natsu wanted him to. Ice forms around his hands.

"Ya know exactly what I mean." Flames engulf Natsu's hands, mimicking Gray. The said teen doesn't hesitate to attack Natsu. Where was Erza when you needed her?

Pissed off, I stand on top of the bar, "SHUT UP AND STOP FIGHTING!" I scream. The dragon slayers have to cover their ears and a strange sense of pride fills me. My hands find their way to my hips before I continue speaking, "I don't think anyone from Fairy Tail is doing it. As you all know, I've been having 'nightmares' lately," Everyone's eyes remain on me, "How they usually play out leads me to suspect that they want me to leave Fairy Tail."

Rogue clears his throat, "It's possibly someone from Sabertooth."

"What? Why do you say that." Mirajane questions, slightly narrowing her eyes.

"How do we know it's not you!" Someone yells from the middle of the guild.

"Yeah!"

"He could be trying to trick us."

Murmurs fill the room with accusations until Gajeel speaks, "Tch. He couldn't harm Bunny girl even if he wanted to."

"What are you talking about?" Mira asks the question hanging in the air.

"Ya didn't tell em bunny girl?" Gajeel lets out his signature laugh.

"It's not like I had time to," I send a glare his way, "You know with the whole nightmare thing mixed with the fact that my apartment was set on fire." I make my way off the bar and sit back in my original seat.

"What's going on Lucy? You and loverboy over there engaged?" Cana smirks.

"Might as well be." I hear Gajeel mutter. I contemplate how I could polite tell him to fuck off.

"We're mates." Rogue says simply. How can he say that like it was equivalent to saying the sky is blue?!

"What the hell you don't just say something like that so casually!" I yell while pulling on the idiots ear. He cries out in pain, several times I might add, but I keep on pulling for a few more seconds. I let go and give a stern look. A blush passes over his face, which leads me to be slightly confused.

"Mates?" I hear Natsu's voice. It's not a question, but more of a shocked repetition. Hurt was evident on his face. Why is he so upset over this? It's not like it effects him. We're still best friends no matter what.

Before I can even utter a single word, the said Dragon Slayer is starting another fight with Gray. Maybe he's not upset. I probably just imagined it. I observe as almost everyone else joins the fight.

"Psst. Lucy. Rogue. Backroom." I turn around to see Mira's ducked down in order to not get hit by flying items. Rogue grabs my hand and I lead him to the back. Once we enter I see Levy, Cana, Lissanna, and Laxus.

"Glad you two could make it." Cana says.

"We were literally five steps away. How could we not make it," I give Cana a pointed look,which she waved off.

"Death by flying people." She responds simply.

"Ah." I agree. I'm actually surprised that hasn't happened yet with how rowdy the guild could be.

"Okay! So we need a plan of action!" Mira takes control of the conversation.

"Already got that covered." Levy pipes up.

"Wow she works fast" I hear Lissanna whisper to herself.

"Yeah, but is it good?" Laxus retorts.

"Of course it is! Don't doubt me." Levy pouts and I can't help but to giggle a bit.

"What's the plan then Levy?" Everyone in the room crouches over and huddles never once lets go of my hand.

"Glad you asked Lucy," She winks, "Alrighty! Lucy's gonna go on a 'mission' by herself to deliver a letter to some mayor. I haven't picked out the details yet, so bare with me. She'll have to check in to some hotel or inn. Loke will be on standby, but not obviously so, as she sleeps. The catch is that Lucy will have a Lucid dream pill so she could control what happens. Once the nightmare start you can start looking for clues to who the person doing this is." She looks me straight in the eye. I nod in agreement to the plan.

"I want to be there." Rogue says.

"You can't," Levy immediately responds. Rogue gives her a dark look and the blue haired girl sighs, "Look I get it with you two being incompleted mates you want to keep her safe, but your bond interferes with the nightmares. She needs to find out what's going on and it's not like she's alone. Loke will be there. She'll be fine I promise,"

"Alright," Rogue sighs in defeat.

The conversation turns, but my mind is elsewhere. Who would want to hurt me? My thoughts turn to Kai from earlier that day. He seemed kind of panicked this morning. Could he be the reason? No. There's no proof of anything. In that case I might as well put Yukino in that category, but that's completely ridiculous. So I guess I have no suspects whatsoever.

"Bye Lucy." I hear Levy's voice fade out. I look around and see that everyone, besides Rogue, is gone. Speaking of Rogue, where's Fro?

"What happened to Fro?" I question my boyfriend.

"He was dragged away by Carla and Happy." I states simply.

"Let's go get him so you can buy us some lunch."

"Why am I paying if it's your idea?"

"I'm Lucy Heartfillia that's why."

"Even more of a reason for you to pay."

"Rogue~ I'm pooooooor." I whine.

Humor dances in his eyes at this little banner, "I guess I should feed the poor."

"Don't pity me." My eyes narrow playfully.

"I'm rewarding you."He responds merrily.

"I'm not a dog."

"I never said you were."

"Rogue. Food. Now." I demand and he bows to me in mockery.

Once we head out to look for his lovable exceed Rogue speaks again, "What were you thinking about earlier?"

"Oh nothing important." I keep my eyes set straight ahead. We pass the park and walk in silence for a few more minutes.

"Lucy...look I get that this is a change for you...for me too, but you need to learn to confide in me. I'm here for you now. I'll be here to help carry your burdens. I'll be your shoulder to cry on, but please talk to me." He stops walking and I face him. I have no words to express the admiration I currently have for this man. His hand grazes my cheek to wipe away the tears I didn't even know I had. More start to pour out as I squeeze him into a hug.

"I-i'm just so...so scared. I don't k-know w-what I did to d-deserve this," I hiccup. So many emotions flow through me. Never have I felt so secure before. How could I not see how selfish I'm being? It's obviously hurting Rogue to see me bottle this all in. He must think that I don't trust him. Realizations dawns on me. Oh goodness! He must be extremely hurt from me not telling him. I should have told him before.

His arms wrap around me, acting as my security blanket. I wish that he never has to let me go. I want to live here in his arms. His hand runs through my hair soothingly as he whispers soothing words in my ear. "Lets go get Fro okay?" I sniffle while detaching myself from his body. He hums in response. "Then you can tell me all about this Incomplete mate thing Levy mentioned earlier."

"Of course," He offers his arm to me and I cling on to him with genuine smile on my face. Things were starting to look a bit better with Rogue by my side.

After we find Fro, we go to one of my favorite pastry shops. We buy our food and sit at a booth in the corner of the small shop. "Ms. Lucy."

"Fro just call me Lucy." I let out a small giggle.

"Is Lucy and Rogue going to get married." Fro asks innocently. I see Rogue completely redden.

"What gave you that idea?" I question the exceed.

"Happy told Fro that when people like eachother they get married."

"But they usually date first unless the marriage is arranged." I speak as I unwrap my cinnamon bun.

"What's an arranged marriage?" Fro tilts his head to the side in confusion.

I eye Rogue for a second before answering, "It's when someone is forced to marry someone else with no choice." Fro gasps in shock.

"Fro thinks that sounds awful."

I nod my head, "It is. My father used to set me up with a lot potential husbands so he could expand his company, but Fairy Tail helped me get the courage to tell him no." I smile softly. I technically disowned myself.

"Fairy Tail seems really nice. Sabertooth used to be mean, but then Sting took over!" Fro cheers. I can't help but to let out a laugh and hand him a piece of my cinnamon bun. He accepts my offering with no hesitation.

"So Rogue how about that incomplete mating," I finish the rest of my pastry and sip on the water I have.

"Oh yeah that.." He groans.

"Yup. You know I don't recall you ever mentioning this," I tap my cheek in thought, "Why is it that I'm hearing it from Levy?"

"Sorry." His whole face is absorbed in red,"But I honestly didn't know how to tell you. I still don't know how to tell you."

"What does it mean to be incomplete?"

"The bond can be broken." He doesn't look me in the eye. Like hell I would want to break this bond! Rogue is one of the best people in this wicked world.

"Is that all?" I wave it off dismissively.

"That's the only major thing." He says slowly, as if he was unsure of something.

"Okay so how do we complete it?"

"You want to complete it?" He sputters out, shocked.

"Duh." I roll my eyes.

"I rather not say in front Fro." His face reddens again.

"Wait why no?" I scrunch up my face in confusion. I sip on my water and nearly spit it out, "Oh!" DIRTY THOUGHTS! DIRTY THOUGHTS! I quickly scan my mind in order to find a subject change."So how about that date redo?" Good choice Lucy!

"Wouldn't this count as it?" He drinks some of his lemonade. Apparently he doesn't like sweets. His loss.

"Rogue we just came back from a soul sucking meeting. That isn't an ideal pre date situation. We're having one tomorrow and this time I'm planning."

"What time?"

"Six. Be there or be a circle."

"I believe the term is square," He corrects me.

I pout, "I know what I said." I look down and see that Fro is curled up on my lap. When did he get there? I scoop him into my arms and Rogue and I get up to leave.

We walk out the shop and head towards the inn I'm staying at. "He really likes you." Rogue states casually. I look down at the bundle of joy in my arms.

"How so?"

"He gets extremely nervous around anyone who isn't Sting or me. He has fallen asleep multiple times with you around and he's okay with being alone in a room with you." Rogue's smile is soft. You can see how much he cares about Fro by looking into his eyes. We spend the rest of the walk in silence. We reach my room and hand his exceed to him. He's about to turn and leave, but quickly I smash my lips against his. Before he could react in anyway, I end the kiss and bid him farewell, while slamming the door in his face.

Shit. I slide down the door and set my head onto my knees. I'm completely smitten by Rogue Cheney and I'm honestly happy about it.


	15. Heartbreak

I wake up feeling content for once. I seriously need to thank Freed for these runes. A smile graces my face as I jump out of bed with pep. Hell, even my pep has pep! I make my way towards the bathroom in order to shower. Once I'm done I brush my teeth and hair. Afterwards I head to the desk in the main little room and get out some paper.

_Dear Momma and Papa,_

_It's been awhile hasn't it? I can't believe I almost lost you two again. A lot has happened in the past two months. Someone's targeting me for some reason. To be honest I'm terrified. I don't know what I've done to make someone cause me so much suffering. I'm lucky to be in the guild I'm in now. Everyone is really trying to help me catch this guy. I love them so much._

_In other news, I met a guy. Well I didn't exactly just meet him, but I never talked to him before all this, so yes I did meet him in a way. His name is Rogue Cheney. Mysterious right? He's amazing. Absolutely amazing! He's trying his best to be there for me plus his exceed (cat from edolas) Fro is so freaking cute! Mama I think you'd love him. Papa you'd like Rogue. He's really sweet and polite and he makes me happy._

_I might be in love. This makes me wonder how in love you two were. I wish I could remember how it was before your death mama. I know papa had to love you very much to change the way he did._

_I really miss you two. I'll always love you no matter what._

_Love,_

_Lucy_

I put the pen away and stretch my arms. A smile graces my lips as I think of my parents. I hope papa found mama in heaven. They can be happy again!

A knock on the door takes me from my thoughts. I go to see who it is and I'm not surprised to see Rogue and Fro. I of course let them in. "Hey." I greet.

"You're in a good mood." He comments, while closing the door.

"What can I say? I had the best sleep i've had in a long time." I cheer.

"LUCY!" Fro attacks me in a hug and I make sure to squeeze him back.

"Hey there Fro, you gonna join our date today?" I wink at him.

"Date? Rogue didn't tell Fro this was a date! Fro doesn't want to bother!" The exceed freaks out.

"But it wouldn't be the same without you." I pout and Rogue makes his way to the small kitchen area.

"Is Lucy sure?" Fro looks up at me with big watery eyes.

"Lucy is very sure." I nod.

"Hey Lucy have you eaten?" Rogue calls.

"Not yet." I respond. Fro and I walk over to the table as Rogue opens the fridge. His swivels in my direction and I see that his eyes are wide.

"You're stocked." He finally says.

"Mhm. I'm used to people raiding my fridge when I'm not home, so it's kind of a habit to fill the fridge with food." I respond.

"Well looks like we have enough ingredients for pancakes." He pokes his head back into the fridge.

Fro and I give each other a look before grinning, "YAY!"

"That was really good! I think I'm stuffed." I pat my stomach to add to effect.

"I'm glad you liked it." Rogue grabs my plate and rinses it off. I would object, but I'm not even sure that I'm capable of moving at the moment. "I actually need to tell you something." He turns to look at me, his face grim.

"What is it?"

"Natsu visited me last night. When I got to my room he was already in there. He didn't seem very...happy about the mating situation and tried to start a fight." Rogue admits, a wave of confusion hits me. I'm angry. I'm pissed. But most of all I'm worried.

"I need to go talk to him." I stand from my spot and head towards the door. Before I open it I look back at my boyfriend, "Are you going to be here when I get back?" My heart flutters as he nods.

I walk out the room and start towards Natsu's. What the hell is going through his head? Why is he acting like this? I understand that he may be a little upset with me, but trying to fight my boyfriend is unacceptable!

Once I get to his house, my fist bang on the door. I'm betting that my face is red in anger. There's no way in hell I'm going to let him get out of this easily! Natsu better watch out because I'm a force to be reckoned with.

The door creaks open rather slowly and my eyes narrow in anticipation. Happy immediately flies out the door, yelling something about walking around the house. I pay no mind to the fur ball and I make my way inside. I see Natsu sitting on the ground, back facing me.

"What the hell!" I immediately shriek. His head snaps in my direction. I nearly jump at the intensity of the glare he gives me. I take a deep breathe and regain my posture. "Natsu why did you try to fight Rogue?" I ask calmly. Yelling at him in this state would most likely initiate a bad response.

"Why didn't you tell me Lucy?"

I stand a little taken aback. Natsu never uses my full name. It's always Luce to him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm supposed to be your best friend right?" He asks. The glare on his face softens and I can clearly see the hurt in his eyes. The hurt that was so obviously caused by me.

"Of course." I answer, taking a step towards him.

"Then why didn't you tell me about you and Rogue? Why did have you been breaking your promise towards me? We're a team, but it feels like we're strangers sometimes." Natsu looks me in the eyes.

I think back to how this month played out. I haven't really spent anytime with Natsu, so I guess that explains to why I didn't tell him about Rogue and I. What does he mean I've been breaking my promises? I don't break promises. It would go against everything a celestial wizard stands for! It would go against what mama stood for. How she raised me to be.

"Natsu what do you mean by promises?" I croak out. I touch my face and i'm surprised to find that I started crying.

"You said you wouldn't go on missions without me." He said lowly.

"What-" A memory of the events after the bank fiasco hits me. Dread fills me to the brim. How could I not realize? My selfish behavior made Natsu upset. My behavior as of late made mama disappointed in me. She's probably looking down on my in shame up in heaven. Papa by her side criticizing my every action. My spirits most likely find me to be incompetent and unreliable.

My body starts to shake involuntarily. I try to contain the tears that threaten to spill. My heart beat pound erratically. I know Natsu could hear it with his advance hearing. I feel like my whole world is spinning as I take gasps of breaths. No longer can I hold up the walls that block the flow of tears. I let them roam down my face sporadically. "I-I'm so sorry," I hiccup.

_Weak_

_Useless_

_Broken_

_Liar_

The last thought echoes repeatedly in my head. I'm a liar. I'm a no good dirty fucking liar. My legs give out which causes me to crash onto my knees. My hands cover my face as if to conceal my sobs. My mother's disappointed face fills my vision. I can practically hear what all my spirits are saying about me. If I can't even keep a simple promise, how can I commit to a relationship? To friendships? How can anyone rely on me If I couldn't keep this simple promise.

I feel heat wrap around me. I can tell by the scent that it's Natsu. I faintly hear him yell to Happy, but I don't attempt to decipher what it was. "I'm sorry Luce." He whispers. "It's gonna be alright. We can hang out later okay? I'm really sorry Luce," He mutters into my hair. I curl into him, slightly comforted. "I didn't mean to make ya cry. I was just upset, but I guess you have a lot on your plate huh?"

I smile weakly and try to stop crying, so I could respond, but all I manage to do is choke on my own spit. I want to tell him how it isn't his fault. How it's all my fault. He wasn't the one who broke their personal rule. He's not the burden. He's not the weak one or the useless one. He's not the liar who disappointed their parents even in death.

I feel my body shift towards another source of heat. I look up to see Rogue now holding me. "It's okay Lucy." Somehow those three words allow me to cease my crying. My body still shakes and the occasional hiccup could be heard. My arms wrap around his neck tightly. Rogue had been there for me ever since he found out what happened.

He kisses my forehead and strokes my hair tenderly.

I don't deserve him.

He whispers soothing words into me ear.

I'm not strong enough to be with him.

I'm not reliable enough.

I'm not worth it.

"Lucy you okay now?" Natsu questions slightly cautious.

"Mhm." I nod numbly. "I'm sorry Natsu," I release a sigh, "As a celestial wizard I feel like it's my duty to keep all my promises. That was the first promise I've ever broken." I drift off.

"Yeah yeah," Natsu gives a dismissive wave of his hand, "One promise aint gonna kill you. I'm not mad and you shouldn't beat yourself up over either. You have a lot on your mind lately and maybe I should've been there for you instead of getting pissy." He scratches the back of his head sheepishly.

I send him a smile. "Are we still on for spending a day together?"

"YUSH!" He cheers. I giggle, happy to see my best friend acting normal again. I look up to see a small grin on Rogue's face.

Soon Rogue and I find ourselves walking back to the inn I'm taking residency in. "Are you alright?" He questions, while intertwining our fingers.

"Yeah."

"Lucy don't lie to me." The black haired man stops walking. I look him in the eyes and see the intensity in them. His hand gently brushes my cheek and I can't help but to lean into his touch.

"You're amazing." I admit, while slightly hanging my head, "Too amazing and I don-"

Before I could finish speaking, Rogue moves his hand to tilt my head upward. His lips then descend upon mine. Various emotion flood throughout me.

"Don't ever finish that sentence. You're more than worth it." His voice drops a few octaves as he speaks. My eyes glisten with tears. "I chose you. My dragon chose you. And I may sound like Sting by saying this, but I will only accept the best and that, Lucy Heartfillia, is you." His thumb caresses the side of my face before connecting his lips with mine once again.

My eyes snap shut once I fully process what's happening. An unfamiliar warmth hugs my inner body and I welcome it with glee. Rogue nibbles my bottom lip in an attempt to coax me into submission. I give in to him easily. A moan releases itself from my mouth and into his.

"Hey get a room! Nobody wants to see that!" I look up to see a man around his fifties glaring at us. My eyes widen as I shove Rogue away. I can already tell that my face is completely red. Rogue chuckles from beside me, so I give him a little shove. He responds by grabbing my hand and continuing our journey back to the inn, as if none of this happened. I can't help, but to keep grin that resides on my face.


	16. Home

I watch as Rogue and Fro depart on to the train. My smile immediately drops as it leaves, I wish Rogue could stay by my side forever, but of course that couldn't happen. We're from different guilds, so how will this relationship work out?

It's be selfish of me to cling on to him. I know Rogue enough to know that he's quit his guild for me, but I couldn't do that to him. Sabertooth is his Nakama, his family. Maybe I should end it before we both get too attached? I'll do that next time I see him. I will my legs to move from its spot, but as soon as I take the first step of voice calls my name.

"Lucy!" I see Kai run up to me.

"Kai? What are you doing here?" I take a step back. Something feels wrong.

"You said if I need help to come to your right?" There's something wrong with his eyes.

"Of course." I nod.

"I want to go home." He comes closer, "take me home I want to go home." He pleads. My heart breaks slightly for him. The desperation in his voice is increasing.

"I'll do whatever I can to help." He grabs me wrist roughly and drags me towards an alley. He lets go of my wrist and does some kind of hand signs. A purple door appears and Kai ushers me to enter.

I hesitate, but comply by opening the strange door, I step inside and enter a completely empty room. The walls, ceiling, and floor are completely white. Once Kai enters the door disappears.

"I thought it be easier to concentrate if there were no distractions." He laughs nervously.

My face scrunches up in confusion, "Concentrate?"

"You are a celestial wizard right?" I nod, "Then you actually use your magic to summon spirits from a different world!" His voice is filled with complete awe. "You single handedly have the power to open gates to other worlds!"

Immediately something clicks, "You're from another world."

"Correct." He grins.

"And you want me to send you back?"

"Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! You think you can do it?" His smile drops and his gaze seems like it's trying to suffocate me with its intensity.

Could I? If I have the power to reunite him with his sister then I have to try. "I'll do my best. Why don't you tell me a bit about your world?" Honest curiosity is hinted in my tone. I make myself comfortable by sitting criss cross on the floor. Kai mimics my action before starting on his tale.

"I attend a special school of sorts. We have partners, one can turn into a weapon while the other has the ability to wield them. We work under death himself and hunt for evil souls. Our number one enemies are the witches, so imagine my disgust when I entered a world full of them." An honest laugh echoes through the room.

"I'm a meister, that's what we call weapon wielders. My weapon, Aiko, was-is beautiful." A soft smiles summons itself onto his face, "I love her so much. She's smart, witty, kind, caring…" Kai's voice starts to drift as if he was reminiscing. "It's hard for weapons to find another meister and vice versa. I don't want her to feel useless."

"Kai I will do whatever I can to help you. That's a promise." Determination settle into my eyes.

"Thank you." He nods simply.

"Do you have something from your world that I can use as an anchor?" He pulls out a small yellow ribbon out of his back pocket.

"It belonged to my sister." He explains.

I take it into my hand and begin to focus on it. My spirits and I have a contract that binds us together, so maybe the ribbon could act as a bridge between worlds.

Hours pass as I focus all my magic into this ribbon. I faintly feel my stomach beg to be fed, but I'm concentrating more on not passing out.

"Stop." Kai's voice breaks my concentration. "You need to rest. I brought you some soup." He chirps. When did he leave?

"I gently place the ribbon beside me. Kai hands me the bowl and I accept it with no hesitance,

"How long do you think it'll take?" He pulls a sandwich from his jacket pocket and plops down next to me.

"I have no idea. I'm basically trying to build a bridge with virtually nothing. I need to focus more on improving my magic and strengthening it before I can even start to connect our worlds. It could take days, weeks, or even months until I'm done with my part, but after that all you need to do is provide your magical energy to the ribbon in order to complete the metaphorical bridge." I internally groan at the amount of exhaustion I'll have to endure. How much of this is my body going to be able to handle?

"Then I guess you won't be leaving for a while then." He remarks casually then takes a chunk out of his sandwich.

"What?" I drop my spoon.

"You're not leaving until you're done and I'm home." He looks me dead in the eye with a completely serious expression.

His emotions are everywhere. My eyes glaze over his fidgety body. I see goose bumps along what's visible of his arms. His left eye occasionally twitches and no amount of makeup will be able to cover the dark circles beneath his eyes. "Have you been taking drugs?"

"I stopped, so that when I go home I'll be me again." His smile looks slightly sadistic.

"You quit cold turkey didn't you?" I stare at him wide eyed.

"Doesn't matter. Hurry up and eat then go sleep. I'll be back in a few days with some food, so no one gets suspicious." He winks at me before getting up. I watch as he summons the door and exits the completely empty room.

I don't attempt to find a way to leave the windowless facility. My mind is racing with millions of thoughts. I attempt to focus on a singular one, but fail.

_Weak._

This is my fault for getting in this situation. I'm far to trusting.

_Burden_

Fairy Tail constantly has to save me, but what If I don't want to be saved?

_Die._

My eyes widen. The voices never told me to- I mean they never once said to… Is that what I need to do? Fulfill my promise to Kai and then drop dead? Will I see Mama and Papa again? NO! I need to live for my parents. I have to live for Fairy Tail, Natsu, Rogue… I need to help Kai not only to fulfill my promise, but so he could be truly happy again.

I finish the soup and lie down. There's no blanket to cover me nor is there a pillow I could use, but it doesn't bother me much. I'm too tired to really know if I'm cold or not. My eyes close as my body curls up into a fetal position. I fall asleep wondering if anyone Is looking for me.


	17. Survive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Character Death

How many weeks has it been? I counted up to two before giving up. Kai has been coming less and less, which means I've been getting less food. I can't concentrate no matter much I try. The lack of food mixed with magic exhaustion may end up killing me, especially if I over do it. I want to continue to help Kai, but I don't want to die for it. I want to keep my promise to him, but I don't want to die for it. I want him to be happy, but I don't want to die for him.

A sneeze echoes through the room. I swear my goosebumps have goosebumps now. For someone who needs my help, Kai sucks at ensuring that I'm able to give it. Speaking of help after this, if I live, I don't think I want to help another human being again. They suck.

"Lucy why the hell aren't you working." Kai's voice startles me. "Nevermind that, I need you to finish now." There's a sense of urgency in his cold voice. When did he even get in here? My eyes wander up towards him. I take in his startling disheveled appearance. Bruises adorn his face. His left eye is swelling shut before my shirt is bunched up in the front as if someone forcefully grabbed it.

"I'm not even done with my part-" I attempt to protest, but get cut off.

"CONNECT ME NOW!" He bellows, voice echoing. His feet pound harshly against the ground as he stomps towards my direct. Kai's hand reaches for my wrist and he begins to apply pressure. I wince in pain, but keep my mouth shut. My head automatically nods and fear rushes through me. He lets go of me and I shakily grab the ribbon.

"You need to concentrate your magic into the ribbon and only the ribbon. Envision half a bridge and try to use your magic to finish it." I explain while using the little of the magic I can use to help him finish the bridge.

My head is swimming, but I need to keep going. Who knows what will happen if I don't? I'm in an isolated room with little to no magic and trapped with a pissed off Kai. Definitely not a good combination.

A spark ignites from the ribbon, which causes a foreign feeling to wash over me. Is it working? I hope it's working. After this I'm getting French Fries. The salty ones, not the plane ones.

The spark continues to appear consistently until it remains as a simple light. The light slowly expands until it reaches the end of the ribbon. My eyes automatically squint as I attempt to observe it. Kai's staring at the light with awe and excitement.

Suddenly my eyes are getting heavy. Shit! I'm running out of magic!

"Hey if you're going to go then do it now." I tell him while stifling a yawn.

He reaches his hand towards the light.

Wait a minute, if Kai leaves then I'll be stuck here to rot.

His middle finger is in it.

I don't want to die here.

Half his arm reaches in.

I don't want to die.

Most of his body had crossed over.

I'm not going to die here. With that final thought, I shut off the connection with no hesitation. Kai's body flings over to the other side of the room. Panic fills his eyes to the brim as he gets up.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!" He screams, "I WAS ALMOST THERE! I WAS ALMOST HOME!"

"Not my fault that I was too malnourished to keep the connection." My eyes lazily gaze at his wide ones.

"I can't go home," His whisper is barely audible as he drops to his knees. "I'm stuck here. He's going to kill me. They're all going to kill me…" Tears make a steady river down his face.

"Let me go." My voice is coated with no emotion. I won't show pity for the one who's hurt me. I can't show pity.

Kai stares at me for a bit and I refrain from avoiding eye contact with his swollen eye. He then reaches into his coat pocket and shuffles his hand around in it. A slight smile graced his lips as he gently pulled out a shiny item. A gun lies in his left palm and his right one caresses it. His gaze returns to mine.

"If I can't go to that home then can I go to another?" I questions. Realization clicks in my brain.

"I'm not going to shoot you." I speak in a soft voice. It's a contrast from the cold one I bore earlier.

"You can go home then...I keep you from it like you kept me from mine," His chuckle has a sharp edge to it. "I'll get you home, I promise. At Least i'll actually fulfill mine unlike you eh?"

A sharp pain runs through my chest, but I manage to ignore it. "Burn in hell." I spit.

"We'll see." He full on grins. His hands make the familiar patterns that summons the door. I slowly walk towards it. I feel as if I'm going to faint any moment. A small smile works its way up my lips. I'm finally going home! I'll finally see other people again.

My hand reaches for the handle. Slowly, I twist the knob to open. Not even half way through the door I hear a click which is soon followed by a sound similar to that of a singular firework. My ears ring in response. My eyes close as I take a deep breathe. A single tear falls down my face. My body goes numb before becoming limp and the last thing I register is falling forward.


	18. Princess Lucy

I flutter my eyes open, but shut them quickly once the light hits. Where am I? The warmth around me indicates that i'm in a blanket. Gentle footsteps are echoing rather loudly, so that means this room has to be practically empty. Another empty place.

I force my eyes to open and gaze towards the figure approaching the bed. A mop of blond hair greets me.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" I croak hoarsely, while eying the messy golden locks.

"I come to see if you're okay and the first thing you do is insult me? I'm hurt blondie." Sting Eucliffe smirks at me, while flipping his new bangs. His hand reaches to grab something from beside me. He hands me a cup of water, which I greedily down quickly.

"Still didn't answer the question." I comment dryly. I set the cup down lightly.

"You know being a Guild Master and all gives me authority over you right?" He challenges.

"You know I really don't care right?" I reciprocate, "Where's Rogue?"

"I had him go cool off." He states. I arch an eyebrow at him. "He was mad when he found out Kai knew where you were and he was pissed when he saw what state you were in. He wants to go off and kill Kai-"

"He's already dead." I interrupt bitterly. Memories flash rapidly on how I selfishly saved myself at the cost of him. His harsh words play in my mind.

" _I'll get you home, I promise. At Least i'll actually fulfill mine unlike you eh?"_

"Did you…?" Sting pauses uncomfortably.

"He did it himself." I finish the conversation hastily. A silence fills the air. My eyes wander around. The walls in the room are all blank and only a couple of beds reside in it. My heart beat increases gradually. I need to get out of here. I don't want to go back.

"Can-can I leave?" I question in a soft spoken tone.

"You hungry? We can grab some food then I'll take to see Rogue." The blonde suggest. I smile genuinely in response as I nod. He helps me get up and guides me to see if I'm capable of walking. Once I get the hang of it he lets go.

As we walk down a shadowy hallway I attempt to start conversation again, "So are you going to explain your hair or do I need to start some kind of rumor?"

"Why are you so damn needy?" He huffs in frustration and I can't help but to giggle in response, "I got out the shower and came straight here. I didn't have time to spike it."

"You actually spend your mornings spiking your hair." I snicker non discretely.

"Shut up!" He snaps defensively, "It takes work to look this awesome." His chest puffs out.

"You might want to try a little harder then." I wink while quickening my pace to be ahead.

The rest of the way was spent with me goading Sting and him insulting me in response. We arrived to a little burger stand just a little ways from the Sabertooth guild. My eyes wander towards the menu greedily before sudden realization hits me.

"You're paying right?" I continue to roam through the menu.

"Yeah yeah," He dismisses with a wave of his hand. I give him a slight glare for his care free response.

"All right then," I force myself to perk up, "So do you know if this place has good fries?"

"Probably," He answers lazily in which I shoot him another glare in response.

"What's with the attitude all of a sudden?" I demand while probing my pointer finger into his chest.

"Lucy," He begins before taking a deep breathe. Him using my actual name is already raising red flags in my mind. "What happened to you? Where were you?" He blurts out with slight aggression.

My eyes widen a bit from being startled. Before I could utter a response the waiter comes and takes our order. Once the lady leaves there's a silence that fills the area. I gaze around uncomfortably from the lack of noise. I spent who knows how long in isolation, with only one person I could rarely talk too. Silence is definitely not doing it for me.

"So how's guilding?" I question lamely. The waitress comes back with our drinks, mine being peach tea.

"How's guilding?" Sting arches an eyebrow in amusement.

"Mhm." I nod then take a sip of my tea (more like devoured).

"Since you suck at conversations," I pout at the statement, "How about we go back to my original question?" He suggest in a tone that indicates that there's no getting out of it.

"Fine." I mutter darkly. At that moment our food arrives and my mood immediately increases.

I grab a fry, inspect it, and then plop it into my mouth.

_Amazing._

"How long was I gone?" Handfuls of fries are stuffed in my mouth. Sting looks slightly disturbed.

"Five weeks." He answers simply, ignoring the food around him. His attention is completely on me, which is slightly unsettling.

"That's a long time." I comment dryly.

"It made a lot of people worried." He adds.

"It sucked in there," I admit then take a sloppy bite of my burger. "Nothing but a white space…" I drift off into my own thoughts. I thought I was going to die in there. That place was literally making me go insane. The only real comfort I had was the fact that the thoughts barely appeared, but even that made me feel lonely. Hate suddenly bubbles inside of me, but then almost as quickly as it appeared, it disappears. How could I hate someone who felt the need to take their own life? How could I not hate someone who nearly took mine?

My fist clench non too gentle. What's wrong with me? Why can't I hate him? I can feel as the tears threaten to leave my eyes. Not here. I can't let people see me weak again. All they do is take advantage of it. They expect me to do whatever they want all because I show a speck of kindness. The tears decide to break my barricades and slither down my face no matter how much I mentally protest. My body is attacked with sudden shivers that seem to be uncontrollable.

Warmth suddenly covers my figure, blocking the view of my crying figure from onlookers. I feel Sting's hand caress my hair soothingly. Confusion resides in my consciousness. People a very selfish creatures, but if that's the case why is Sting doing this?

"It's okay Lucy you don't have to talk about it." He murmurs. I nod simply at this.

We wait a few minutes for me to calm down before he paid and we depart. Occasional sniffles fill the silent walk back.

"Can I go see Rogue?" I question. I longed for his presence since I've been taken and everyday that longing increased. I wonder if he feels the same?

"Yeah whatever you need princess." And there goes that annoying cocky smirk.

"Princess?" I quirk an eyebrow upward.

"Suits you." He shrugs, "Princess Lucy Heartfillia, whose heart was captured by the mysterious shadow dragon."

"That was rather poetic." I applaud slightly.

"I try." He leads me towards a room below the Sabertooth guild hall. The door creaks open to reveal an unkempt looking Rogue Cheney.

Without my instruction, my feet move towards the man. His eyes roam my figure almost disbelievingly.

"Rogue." I whisper to myself as my hand reaches out towards his face. His palm wraps around my wrist upon contact. I use my free arm to capture him in a hug. I faintly hear the door close behind me and I take it as my signal to cry freely. Rogue's arms wrap around me in a desperate embrace.

"I missed you." I find myself saying. The statement was true in entirety. I often found myself thinking about our first date as comfort. I tried to remember how he listened to me and then my thoughts would tend to drift to our last day together.

His head lies on top of mine in silent comfort, "I missed you too." He tightens his arms around me. "Don't leave me again." He urges quietly.

"Never again." This is a promise that I _will_ keep.


End file.
